THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OF 
ERNEST  CARROLL  MOORE 


AS   OTHERS   SAW   HIM 


AS  OTHERS  SAW   HIM 


A   RETROSPECT 


A.  D.  54 


//  cannot  be  that  a  prophet  perish  out  of  Jerusalem  " 

LUKE  xiii.  33 


BOSTON   AND    NEW  YORK 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND   COMPANY 

($foe  fiitoerisibe  ifitesti,  Cambridp 

1895 


Copyright,  1895, 
BY  HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  &  CO. 

All  rights  reserved. 


The  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  H.  O.  Houghton  &  Co. 


To  AGLAOPHONOS,  PHYSICIAN  OF  THE  GREEKS  AT 
CORINTH,  MESHULLAM  BEN  ZADOK,  A  SCRIBE  OF 
THE  JEWS  AT  ALEXANDRIA,  GREETING  :  — 

It  was  a  joy  and  a  siirprise  to  me  to  hear  news 
after  many  days  from  thee,  my  master  and  my 
friend.  To  thee  I  owe  whatever  I  have  of  Greek 
^visdom  ;  for  when  in  the  old  days  at  the  Holy 
City  thou  soughtest  me  for  instruction  in  our 
Law,  I  learnt  more  from,  thee  than  I  cottld  im- 
part to  thee.  Since  I  last  wrote  to  thee,  I  have 
come  to  this  great  city,  where  many  of  my  nation 
dwell,  and  almost  all  the  most  learned  of  thy 
tongue  are  congregated.  Truly,  it  would  please 
me  mttc/t,  and  mine  only  son  and  his  wife,  if  thou 
couldst  come  and  take  up  thy  sojourn  among  us 
for  a  while. 

Touching  the  man  Saul  of  Tarsus,  of  whom, 
thou  writest,  I  know  but  little.  He  is  well  in- 
structed in  oitr  Law,  both  written  and  oral,  hav- 
ing received  the  latter  from  the  chief  master 
among  those  of  the  past  generation,  Gamaliel  by 
name.  Yet  he  is  not  of  the  disciples  of  Aaron 
that  love  peace  ;  for  when  I  last  heard  of  him  he 
was  among  the  leaders  of  a  riot  in  which  a  man 
was  slain.  And  now  I  think  thereon,  I  am  al- 
most certain  that  the  slain  man  was  of  the  fol- 
lowers of  Jesus  the  Nasarene,  and  this  Saul  was 


among  the  bitterest  against  them.  And  yet  thou 
writest  that  the  same  Saul  has  spoken  of  the 
Nazarene  that  he  was  a  god  like  Apollo,  that  had 
come  down  on  earth  for  a  while  to  live  his  life 
among  men.  Truly,  mens  minds  are  as  the  wind 
that  bloweth  hither  and  thither. 

But  as  for  that  Jesus  of  Nazara,  I  can  tell  thee 
much,  if  not  all.  For  I  was  at  Jerusalem  all  the 
time  he  passed  for  a  leader  of  men  tip  to  his 
shameful  death.  At  first  I  admired  him  for  his 
greatness  of  soul  and  goodness  of  life,  but  in  the 
end  I  came  to  see  that  he  was  a  danger  to  our 
nation,  and,  though  unwillingly,  I  was  of  those 
who  voted  for  his  death  in  the  Council  of  Twenty- 
Three.  Yet  I  cannot  tell  thee  all  I  know  in  the 
compass  of  a  letter,  so  I  have  written  it  at  large 
for  thee,  and  it  will  be  delivered  unto  thee  even 
with  this  letter.  And  in  my  description  of  events 
I  have  been  at  pains  to  distinguish  between  what 
I  saw  myself  and  what  _  I  heard  from  others,  fol- 
lowing in  this  the  example  of  Herodotus  of  Hali- 
carnassus,  who,  if  he  spake  rude  Greek,  wrote 
true  history.  And  so  farewell. 


CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

I.  THE  MAN  WITH  THE  SCOURGE         .       .  9 

II.  THE  UPBRINGING 21 

III.  EARLIER    TEACHING.      SERMON   IN    THE 

SYNAGOGUE  OF  THE  GALILEANS    .        .  37 

IV.  THE  Two  WAYS 55 

V.  THE  WOMAN  TAKEN  IN  ADULTERY.    THE 

RICH  YOUNG  MAN 63 

VI.  THE  TESTINGS  IN  THE  TEMPLE     .       .  75 

VII.  THE  SECOND  SERMON        ....  87 

VIII.  THE  REBUKING  OF  JESUS       ...  99 

IX.  JESUS  IN  THE  TEMPLE        .        .        .        .  in 

X.  THE  ENTRY  INTO  JERUSALEM         .        .  121 

XI.  THE  CLEANSING  OF  THE  TEMPLE     .        .133 

XII.  THE  WOES 145 

XIII.  THE  GREAT  REFUSAL         .        .        .        .155 

XIV.  THE  MEETING  OF  THE  HANANITES      .  167 
XV.   THE   EXAMINATION  BEFORE  THE  SANHE- 
DRIM     181 

XVI.   CONDEMNATION  AND  EXECUTION  .        .  195 

EPILOGUE 207 


I. 

THE  MAN  WITH  THE  SCOURGE. 


AS   OTHERS   SAW    HIM. 


I. 

I  WAS  crossing  one  morning  the  Xystus 
Bridge  on  my  way  to  the  Temple,  when  I 
saw  issuing  from  the  nearest  gate  a  herd 
of  beasts  of  sacrifice.  Fearing  that  some- 
thing untoward  had  occurred,  I  hurried  to 
the  gate,  and  when  I  entered  the  Court 
of  the  Gentiles,  I  found  all  in  confusion. 
The  tables  of  the  money-changers  had 
been  overturned,  and  the  men  were  gath- 
ering their  moneys  from  the  ground.  And 
in  the  midst  I  saw  one  with  a  scourge  in 
his  hand.  His  face  was  full  of  wrath  and 
scorn,  his  eyes  blazed,  and  on  his  left  tem- 
ple stood  out  a  vein  all  blue,  throbbing 
with  his  passion.  He  was  neither  short 
nor  tall,  but  of  sturdy  figure,  and  clad  in 
rustic  garb. 

Now,  as  the  money-changers  were  es- 
caping from  his  wrath,  one  of  them  ran 


12  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

against  a  little  child  that  was  in  the  court, 
and  it  fell  screaming.  The  fellow  took  no 
heed,  but  went  on  his  course.  But  the 
man  with  the  scourge  went  to  the  little 
child  and  raised  it  to  its  feet,  and  pressed 
it  to  his  side ;  the  hand  that  rested  on  the 
curly  head  was  that  of  a  workman,  with 
broken  nails,  and  yet  the  fingers  twitched 
with  the  excitement  of  the  man.  But, 
looking  to  his  face,  I  saw  that  a  wonderful 
change  had  come  over  it.  From  rage,  it 
had  turned  to  pity  and  love  ;  the  eyes  that 
had  flashed  scorn  on  the  money-changers 
now  looked  down  with  tenderness  on  the 
little  child.  I  remember  thinking  to 
myself,  "  This  man  cannot  say  the  thing 
that  is  not ;  his  face  bewrayeth  him." 

Meanwhile  the  money-changers  and 
those  with  them  had  collected  together 
near  the  gate  by  which  I  had  entered,  and 
stood  there  whispering  and  muttering 
among  themselves.  All  at  once  they 
turned  towards  the  man  as  he  was  'sooth- 
ing the  little  child,  and  shouted  out  to- 
gether, "Mamzerf  Mamzerf"  which  in 
our  tongue  signifieth  one  born  out  of 
wedlock.  Then  the  man  looked  up  from 


THE  MAN  WITH  THE  SCOURGE.        13 

the  little  child,  his  face  once  more  full  of 
rage,  and  the  blue  vein  throbbing  on  his 
temple.  He  took  a  step  towards  the  men, 
and  then  he  stopped.  His  face  changed 
to  a  look  of  pity,  and  the  men  themselves, 
in  fear  and  shame,  slunk  away  before  his 
look  through  the  gate  and  were  gone. 

Then  he  turned  towards  those  that  had 
for  sale  doves  as  sacrifices  for  the  women 
and  the  poor.  To  these  he  spoke  in  a 
tone  that  was  calm  and  yet  full  of  au- 
thority, and  then  I  noticed  that  his  voice 
had  the  burr  of  our  northern  peasantry. 
He  said  unto  them,  "  Take  these  things 
hence ;  make  not  my  Father's  house  a 
house  of  merchandise."  And  these,  too, 
went  away  through  the  gates,  carrying  with 
them  the  wicker  cages  full  of  doves.  Ever 
since  that  time  the  doves  have  been  for 
sale  in  Hanan's  Bazaar  on  the  Mount  of 
Olives. 

Now  I  must  tell  thee  that  at  this  time 
there  had  been  much  disputing  between 
the  Pharisees  and  the  Sadducees  as  to  the 
sale  of  beasts  for  sacrifice.  The  Pharisees 
held  that  each  man  might  buy  such  beasts 
wherever  he  would ;  but  the  Sadducees, 


14  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

being  mainly  priests,  or  of  priestly  blood, 
would  have  it  that  the  beasts  of  sacrifice 
could  only  be  purchased  from  the  sales- 
men duly  authorized  by  the  High  Priest ; 
for  they  said,  "Who  shall  tell  that  the 
beasts  are  according  to  the  Law,  if  they 
are  bought  from  any  chance  person  ? "  Yet 
many  thought  they  only  did  this  in  order 
that  they  might  share  the  profit  from  the 
sale  of  the  animals.  And,  indeed,  the 
great  riches  of  the  High  Priests  came 
mainly  from  this  source.  When,  there- 
fore, I  saw  the  man  with  the  scourge  get- 
ting rid  of  these  sacrificial  animals  from 
the  courts  of  the  Temple,  my  first  thought 
was  that  he  was  of  the  sect  of  the  Phari- 
sees. Yet  these  are  rarely  found  in  the 
country  parts,  and  the  man  bore  no  great 
marks  of  special  piety;  his  phylacteries 
were  not  broader  than  my  own ;  the 
fringes  of  his  garment  were  not  more  con- 
spicuous, nor  did  he  seem  as  one  of  the 
fanatics  who  are  so  many  in  our  land.  He 
had  done  what  he  had  done  in  all  calm- 
ness, and  with  a  certain  air  of  authority. 
My  wonder  was  aroused  to  think  what 
manner  of  man  this  could  be,  who  did  the 


THE  MAN  WITH  THE  SCOURGE.        1 5 

work  of  the  Pharisees,  and  was  not  one 
himself. 

While  I  thus  thought,  the  man  turned 
to  a  group  of  men  clad  in  the  same  rustic 
garb,  saying,  "  Be  ye  rather  approved 
money-changers,  holding  fast  the  good  and 
casting  forth  the  false ;  "  l  and,  after  other 
words,  he  turned  from  them  and  went  up 
the  steps  leading  to  the  Women's  Court. 

Now  thou  knowest,  Aglaophonos,  that 
at  the  entrance  of  this  court  standeth  an 
inscription  which  saith,  "  LET  NONE  OF 

ALIEN  BIRTH  PASS  WITHIN  THE  TEMPLE 
CLOISTERS  I  HE  THAT  TRANSGRESSES  IS 

GUILTY  OF  DEATH."  As  the  man  with  the 
scourge  would  enter  the  Women's  Court, 
the  Roman  sentry  stopped  him,  and 
pointed  to  this  inscription  with  his  spear. 
He  shook  his  head,  saying  in  faulty  Greek, 
"  Jewish  I  am,"  and  showed  the  soldier  the 
fringes  of  his  garment  after  the  Jewish 
fashion.  Then  the  sentry  drew  back,  and 
the  man  passed  through. 

Thereupon  I  went   up   to   the   men  to 

1  This,  like  most  other  utterances  of  Jesus,  found  in  this 
book  but  not  in  the  Gospels,  is  also  found  in  the  early 
patristic  literature.  —  ED. 


1 6  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

whom  the  man  with  the  scourge  had 
spoken,  and  greeted  them  with  the  greet- 
ing of  peace. 

"  Peace  unto  thee,  master,"  said  one  of 
them  in  the  same  northern  accent  I  had 
noticed  in  their  leader. 

"  Who  is  that  man,"  I  said,  "  that  has 
just  gone  into  the  Temple  cloister?" 

"  Jesus  of  Nazara,  in  Galilee." 

"  And  whose  son  is  he  ? "  I  asked. 

The  man  looked  at  his  companions  ere 
he  answered,  — 

"  Of  Joseph  ben  Eli  the  carpenter,  and 
Miriam  his  wife." 

"  And  what  is  his  trade  ? "  I  continued. 

"  A  wheelwright,"  he  said ;  "  the  best 
wheels  and  yokes  in  all  Capernaum  are 
made  by  him." 

"  But  is  he  of  the  country-folk,1  or  a 
pupil  of  the  wise  ?  " 

"  Nay,  master,  he  knoweth  the  Law  and 
the  Prophets." 

"  Of  what  party  is  he  ?     Boethusian  he 

lvOxA.os  TOV  aypov,  seemingly  the  translation  of  the  He- 
brew tr-isn  C"S  used  f°r  those  unlearned  in  the  Law ; 
this  term  seems  to  have  passed  through  much  the  same 
history  as  "  pagan."  —  ED. 


THE  MAN  WITH   THE  SCOURGE.        I/ 

cannot  be,  nor  Sadducee ;  but  is  he  Phari- 
see or  Zealot,  Essene  or  Baptist  ? " 

"  He  is  of  no  party." 

"  But  from  whom  hath  he  received  the 
tradition  of  the  elders  ?  At  whose  feet  has 
he  sat  ?  Whom  calleth  he  master  ?  " 

"  He  hath  been  baptized  by  Jochanan  his 
kinsman,  but  none  calleth  he  master." 

"  If  he  have  not  the  tradition,  he  cannot 
teach  the  Law,  for  his  words  will  not  be 
binding.  Doth  he  sit  in  judgment  or  pro- 
nounce Din  ?  " 

"  Nay,  master,  he  but  teacheth  us  to  be 
good." 

"  Ah,"  said  I,  "  he  is  but  a  homolist 
of  the  Hagada;  he  addeth  naught  to  the 
Halacha.  Then  what  is  his  motto  ?  "  * 

"  He  saith,  '  Repent  ye,  for  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  is  at  hand.' " 

Then  I  took  the  man  away  from  his  com- 
panions, and  out  of  hearing  of  the  Roman 
sentry,  and  asked  him  in  a  low  tone, "  And 
who  shall  be  the  king  thereof  ?  " 

But  the  man  answered  not,  but  said 
only,  "  Lo !  he  cometh." 

1  Each  of  the  Jewish  rabbis  used  to  sum  up  his  teach- 
ing in  some  pregnant  sentence.  These  are  given  in  the 
Talmudic  treatise,  The  Ethics  of  the  Fathers.  —  ED. 


1 8  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

And,  indeed,  at  that  moment  Jesus  came 
down  by  the  steps  he  had  ascended  and 
beckoned  to  his  companions.  And  as  they 
went  towards  him  I  was  surprised,  and  at 
the  same  time  horrified,  to  see  amongst 
them  two  persons  whom  I  little  thought  to 
find  in  any  public  place  in  Jerusalem,  still 
less  in  the  courts  of  the  Temple.  One  was 
a  woman  in  the  yellow  veil  of  a  hetczra ; 
the  other,  a  mere  Nathin  who  had  no 
name  among  men,  but  was  called  Dog  d 
Dogs.  These  two  pressed  close  to  Jesus ; 
the  woman  rushed  forward  with  a  sob  and 
raised  the  hem  of  his  garment  to  her  lips, 
while  to  the  man  he  spoke  some  friendly 
words,  smiling  on  him  as  they  walked  to- 
wards the  entrance. 

I  was  astonished.  The  man  had  seemed 
so  careful  of  the  purity  of  the  Temple  that 
he  would  not  allow  even  the  necessary 
arrangements  for  its  service  to  be  per- 
formed in  its  precincts,  yet  he  allowed  its 
courts  to  be  defiled  by  the  vilest  of  the 
vile.  Perchance,  I  thought,  he  had  pre- 
vailed upon  them  to  perform  the  vows 
enjoined  by  the  Law,  and  cleanse  them- 
selves of  their  sin.  Or  was  it  that  he  was 


THE  MAN  WITH  THE  SCOURGE.       19 

ignorant  of  their  characters,  being  but  newly 
come  from  rural  parts  ?  He  must,  indeed, 
be  different  from  other  rabbis,  who  kept 
themselves  apart  from  all  transgressors 
against  the  Law  till  they  had  repented  and 
done  penance. 

While  I  thus  meditated,  I  saw  the  High 
Priest  Hanan.whomye  Hellenes  call  Annas, 
enter  into  the  court  of  the  Gentiles  with  his 
guard.  Thou  rememberest  the  man,  Aglao- 
phonos  —  how  his  tyranny  extended  over 
all  the  city.  He  was  still  called  High  Priest, 
though  Valerius  Gratius,  the  Procurator, 
had  deposed  him  years  before,  lest  haply  he 
might  regain  the  regal  power  of  the  Mac- 
cabaeans.  Still,  even  after  his  deposition, 
he  had  sufficient  power  to  get  his  sons  or 
sons-in-law  named  High  Priests.  It  was 
one  of  the  latter,  Joseph  Caiaphas,  who  at 
that  time  held  the  office ;  yet  the  people 
still  called  Hanan  High  Priest,  and  he  him- 
self wore  on  high  days  the  bells  and  pome- 
granates round  his  tunic  as  a  sign  of  his 
dignity.  Thou  must  remember  his  keen- 
cut  face,  his  nose  like  an  eagle's,  his  long 
white  beard,  bent  neck,  and  sinewy  hand. 
Was  it  thou  or  I  that  first  called  him  "  the 
Old  Vulture"? 


20  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

He  had  heard  of  the  insult  to  his  dignity 
by  the  removal,  without  his  orders,  of  the 
money-changers  and  others  to  whom  the 
people  paid  the  fees  from  which  he  and  his 
made  such  display  in  his  grand  dwelling 
on  the  Mount  of  Olives.  "  Where  is  he  ? 
where  is  he  ? "  he  cried,  as  he  came  bus- 
tling up,  with  neck  extended,  and  looking 
more  than  ever  like  a  bird  of  prey.  He 
soon  found  that  the  man  he  sought  had 
gone;  but  he  had  given  his  orders,  and 
before  I  left  the  court,  I  saw  the  money- 
changers reenter  and  the  cattle  driven 
back.  I  had  to  attend  a  meeting  of  the 
Sanhedrim,  for  that  year  I  had  risen  to  the 
third  and  highest  bench  of  disciples  who 
sit  under  its  members  when  they  give  judg- 
ment. Next  year  I  was  elected  of  the  Sev- 
enty-One myself  in  the  section  of  Israelites. 
It  must,  therefore,  have  been  in  the  six- 
teenth year  of  Tiberius  the  Emperor, 
nearly  five-and-twenty  years  agone,  that  I 
thus  saw  for  the  first  time  Jesus  the  Naza- 
rene. 


II. 

THE  UPBRINGING. 


II. 


THOU  canst  imagine  the  wonder  and 
excitement  in  Jerusalem  at  this  bold  deed 
of  the  Nazarene.  Not  even  the  oracle  of 
Delphi  is  regarded  with  so  much  rever- 
ence as  our  sacred  fane,  and  none  in  our 
time  had  dared  to  interfere  with  its  regu- 
lations, which  have  all  the  sacredness  of 
our  traditions.  And  of  these  none  was 
regarded  by  the  priestly  guardians  of  the 
Temple  as  of  greater  weight  for  them  than 
the  right  of  sale  of  beasts  of  sacrifice.  It 
is  from  this,  as  I  have  said,  that  the  priestly 
order  gain  their  wealth,  and  no  more  deadly 
blow  could  be  struck  at  their  power  than 
to  deprive  them  of  this.  Hence  had  the 
Pharisees  protested  against  this  right,  but 
none  had  hitherto  dared  to  carry  out  the 
protest  in  very  deed.  All  the  poor  and 
all  the  pious  would  have  been  glad  if  they 
could  buy  their  offerings  to  the  Lord 
wheresoever  they  would. 

But  more  than  all,  men  of  Jerusalem 


24  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

were  amazed  at  the  daring  of  the  Galilaean 
stranger  in  opposing  the  High  Priest  Ha- 
nan.  This  man  had  been  the  tyrant  of 
the  Temple  and  of  the  city  for  the  whole 
span  of  a  generation  of  men,  and  no  man 
had  dared  say  him  nay  for  all  that  time. 
Even  the  Romans,  who  had  deposed  him 
from  his  position  as  High  Priest,  had  not 
dared  to  interfere  with  him  otherwise.  Yet 
had  this  rude  countryman,  who  had  never 
been  seen,  never  been  known  to  set  foot  in 
Jerusalem  before,  dared  to  strike  at  the 
root  of  his  power  and  wealth.  Thou  canst 
not  wonder  that  men  were  curious  to  know 
what  manner  of  man  he  might  be  who 
had  dared  this  great  thing,  and  busy 
rumor  ran  through  all  the  bazaars  of 
Jerusalem,  asking,  Who  is  this  Jesus  of 
Nazara?  All  that  I  learnt  of  his  kindred 
and  early  life  I  learnt  at  this  time,  and  I 
here  set  it  forth  in  order. 

It  was  natural  that  I  should  first  direct 
my  inquiries  as  to  his  birth,  for  the  insult- 
ing cry  of  the  money-changers  still  rang 
in  my  ears.  Thou  knowest  our  pride  of 
birth;  I  learnt  from  thee  to  abate  it. 
Every  man  in  Israel  taketh  his  place  in 


THE    UPBRINGING.  2$ 

the  nation  according  as  he  is  a  son  of 
Aaron  or  of  Levi,  a  simple  Israelite,  or  a 
proselyte  that  fears  the  Lord ;  each  man 
knoweth  his  own  and  his  neighbor's  gene- 
alogy. The  greatest  slur  upon  a  man  is 
to  accuse  him  of  "  mixture,"  the  greatest 
insult  is  to  call  him  "  bastard."  Why  had 
the  money-changers  cast  this  slur  upon  the 
Nazarene?  Thou  and  I,  Aglaophonos, 
who  boast  to  be  citizens  of  the  Kosmos, 
would  not  think  the  worse  of  him  if  the 
taunt  were  true.  Yet  thou  canst  under- 
stand how  great,  even  if  he  only  thought 
it  to  be  true,  would  be  the  influence  of 
such  a  slur  on  this  man's  mind  and  on 
his  career.  If  in  after-days  he  showed 
himself  so  careless  of  the  nation's  hopes, 
may  it  not  have  been  that  he  felt  himself 
in  some  way  outside  the  nation? 

Now  I  found,  upon  inquiry  among  the 
Galilaeans  settled  in  Jerusalem,  that  some 
such  scandal  had  arisen  about  his  birth. 
There  had  even  been  talk  that  Joseph  ben 
Eli  would  have  put  away  his  wife,  but  for 
the  stern  penalties  which  our  Law  inflicts 
upon  the  misdoer.  Yet  there  may  have 
been  naught  but  suspicion  in  the  matter, 


26  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

for  the  two  lived  together,  and  Miriam 
bore  several  children  to  Joseph  after  this 
Jesus.  But  between  him  and  them  there 
was  never  good  will,  and  I  have  heard 
things  told  of  this  Jesus  which  seem  to 
show  some  harshness  in  his  treatment 
of  them,  and  even  of  his  mother.  Once 
when  he  was  told  that  his  mother  and 
brethren  were  without,  and  would  see 
him,  he  as  it  were  repudiated  them,  saying, 
"  Who  are  my  mother  and  my  brothers  ? 
Whosoever  doeth  the  will  of  God,  the 
same  is  my  brother  and  sister  and  mo- 
ther." Again,  when  once  his  mother 
came  to  him  and  would  speak  to  him,  he 
said  to  her,  "  Woman,  what  have  I  to  do 
with  thee  ? "  The  man  whom  I  had  seen 
so  tenderly  thoughtful  to  a  little  child 
could  not  have  spoken  thus  unless  he  had 
felt  himself  placed  by  some  means  outside 
the  natural  ties  of  men. 

Of  Jesus'  upbringing  I  could  learn  little. 
When  he  was  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  when 
each  Jewish  male  child  becomes  a  Son  of 
the  Covenant  (Bar  Mitzva),  and,  as  we 
think,  takes  his  sins  upon  his  own  soul,  his 
parents  brought  him  to  Jerusalem.  On 


THE   UPBRINGING.  2/ 

this  occasion,  as  some  still  remember,  he 
showed  remarkable  knowledge  of  the  Law, 
when,  as  is  customary,  they  read  the  por- 
tion of  the  Law  set  down  for  the  Sabbath 
reading  next  after  his  birthday,  and  he 
was  examined  in  its  meaning  by  the 
learned  men  present.  Yet  he  fulfilled 
not  this  promise  of  devotion  to  the  Law 
as  he  grew  in  years.  I  cannot  learn  that 
he  dusted  himself  with  the  "dust  of  the 
wise,"  as  the  sages  have  commanded.1 
Not  having  sat  at  the  feet  of  any  of  the 
holders  of  tradition,  he  cauld  not  pro- 
nounce decisions  of  the  Law. 

His  father  brought  him  up  to  his  own 
trade,  that  of  carpenter.  With  us  man- 
ual toil  is  not  despised,  as  among  you 
Hellenes ;  there  is  a  saying  among  us, 
"  Whoso  bringeth  not  his  son  up  to  a 
handicraft  traineth  him  for  a  robber." 
Jesus  was  a  good  and  capable  worker,  and 
devoted  himself  especially  to  the  making 
of  yokes  and  wheels  at  Capernaum,  where 

1  Josd  ben  Joeser  said,  "  Let  thy  place  be  a  place  of 
meeting  for  the  wise  ;  dust  thyself  with  the  dust  of  their    ' 
feet,  and  drink  greedily  of  their  teaching  "  (Pirke  Aboth, 
i.  4>  — ED. 


28  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

he  had  settled,  some  five  hours'  journey 
from  his  native  place.  Here  he  would 
often  read  the  Haphtaroth,  or  prophetical 
lessons,  in  the  synagogue,  and  explain  it 
after  the  manner  of  the  Hagada. 

Thus  he  would  have  passed  his  life,  a 
wheelwright  on  week-days,  a  preacher  on 
the  Sabbath  and  festivals,  but  for  a  strange 
event  that  occurred  in  his  own  family. 
Among  us  Jews,  none  has  more  honor 
than  the  Nabi,  the  man  who  speaks  the 
word  of  wisdom  in  the  name  of  God. 
How  know  we  that  a  man  is  a  Nabi  ? 
Chiefly  by  his  words,  but  mainly  by  his 
eyes,  in  which  there  shines  the  light  of 
prophecy.  Now,  when  Jesus  was  about 
thirty  years  old,  three  or  four  years  before 
I  first  saw  him,  the  light  of  prophecy  came 
in  the  eyes  of  his  cousin,  Jochanan  ben 
Zacharia  Ha-Cohen.  Thou  knowest,  Agla- 
ophonos,  that  amongst  us  there  is  a  sect 
of  Essenoi,  who  answer  in  much  to  the 
Pythagoreans  among  the  Hellenes.  These 
Essenoi  eat  no  flesh,  they  dwell  not  in  the 
cities  of  men,  they  perform  frequent  lus- 
trations, nor  will  they  admit  any  into  their 
community  until  they  have  been  baptized 


THE   UPBRINGING.  29 

of  them  ;  they  care  little  for  the  Temple 
service,  and  in  this  above  all  distinguish 
themselves  from  either  Pharisees  or  Sad- 
ducees.  Their  belief  in  the  angels  is 
strong,  and  they  use  magic  for  the  healing 
of  sickness. 

Now,  this  Jochanan,  the  cousin  of  Jesus, 
seems  to  have  adopted  in  many  things  the 
views  of  these  Essenoi :  he  separated  him- 
self from  men,  and  ate  no  flesh,  nor  did  he 
go  up  to  the  Temple  on  the  three  great 
festivals  of  the  year ;  and  above  all,  when 
men  began  to  follow  after  him,  he  would 
admit  none  to  communion  with  him  till 
he  had  baptized  them  in  running  water, 
and  for  this  he  was  called  among  the  folk 
Jochanan  the  Baptizer.  Yet  he  was  not 
an  Essene,  for  he  joined  not  their  com- 
munion, nor  established  any  distinction  of 
orders  among  the  men  who  came  out  to 
him ;  he  was  more  like  unto  the  prophets 
of  old,  who  taught  as  individuals  new 
truths  about  life ;  and  his  great  teaching 
was  this  :  "  Repent  ye,  for  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  at  hand."  And  men  went  out 
to  him,  asking  him  in  what  they  should 
repent  so  as  to  become  worthy  of  the 


30  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

kingdom.  Above  all,  those  who  were  de- 
spised of  the  people  because  they  did  the 
work  of  the  Romans,  by  being  their  tax- 
gatherers  or  their  soldiers,  feared  the 
wrath  to  come  in  the  new  kingdom  which 
he  preached,  and  asked  him  in  what  they 
should  alter  their  ways.  But  to  them  he 
was  by  no  means  hard,  saying  only  to  the 
tax-gatherers,  "Act  justly,"  and  to  the 
soldiers,  "  Do  no  violence."  To  the  poor 
he  was  tender  and  merciful,  but  exhorted 
the  rich  to  divide  their  possessions  with 
the  poor.  In  this  way  he  drew  unto  him 
all  who  were  despised  of  the  people,  and 
those  who  were  poor  and  miserable.  Thus 
he  attracted  the  notice  of  the  rulers,  who 
feared  that  he  was  preparing  to  rebel 
against  them  ;  for  they  said,  "  Wherefore 
does  this  man  attract  to  him  the  discon- 
tented and  the  soldiery  ?  " 

Now,  when  the  family  of  Jesus  heard 
that  their  relative  was  gaining  a  name 
among  men,  they  sent  to  Jesus,  asking 
him  to  go  with  them  unto  his  cousin ;  but 
he,  as  I  have  heard,  at  first  refused,  saying, 
"Wherein  have  I  sinned,  that  I  should  be 
baptized  of  Jochanan  ?  "  Yet  afterwards 


THE    UPBRINGING.  31 

he  consented  unto  this,  and  went  out  to 
be  baptized  of  his  cousin.  And  when  he 
saw  the  power  for  good  that  Jochanan 
exercised,  his  spirit  was  exalted,  and  he 
felt  that  he  too  had  within  him  the  same 
power.  Many  strange  things  have  I  heard 
of  what  happened  to  this  Jesus  when  he 
submitted  to  be  baptized  by  his  cousin. 
And  as  none  but  Jesus  would  have  known 
his  feelings  on  that  occasion,  these  reports 
must  have  come  from  him.  Among  us  it 
is  the  custom  that  each  Jew  should  select 
from  the  Psalms  some  stichos  which  should 
serve  as  the  motto  of  his  life,  and  identify 
him  when  he  appeareth  before  the  Angel 
of  Death.  Now,  it  would  appear  that  as 
Jesus  was  being  baptized  of  Jochanan  he 
heard  the  Daughter1  of  the  Voice,  of  God 
say  to  him  the  stichos  of  the  psalm,  "  Thou 
art  my  Son ;  this  day  have  I  begotten 
thee."  Whether  this  was  a  protest  of  his 
soul  against  the  slur  cast  upon  his  birth, 
what  man  shall  say  ?  But  henceforth  he 
spake  of  the  fatherhood  of  God  as  if  it 
had  to  him  a  deeper  sense  than  to  most 

1  The  rabbis  use  this  expression,  Bath  Kol,  for  any 
supernatural  revelation.  —  ED. 


32  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

of  us  Jews,  though  with  us,  as  I  have  oft 
explained  to  thee,  it  is  the  central  feeling 
of  our  faith. 

Jesus  did  not  remain  long  out  in  the 
wilderness  with  his  cousin ;  he,  indeed, 
early  recognized  his  superiority,  though 
he  was  his  master  and  his  teacher.  For 
at  the  first  the  teaching  of  Jesus  differed 
but  in  little  from  the  teaching  of  Jocha- 
nan.  He  summed  up  his  whole  aim  in  the 
words  which  I  had  heard  his  followers  use 
in  the  Temple :  "  Repent  ye,  for  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  is  at  hand  ; "  and  this  he 
must  have  learnt  from  his  cousin.  So, 
too,  like  Jochanan,  he  mingled  with  the 
tax-gatherers  and  the  soldiery,  and  above 
all  addressed  himself  to  the  poor,  and,  as 
I  was  to  see,  exhorted  the  rich  to  distrib- 
ute their  possessions.  In  all  these  things 
he  was  but  the  follower  of  his  cousin  Jo- 
chanan. It  is  no  wonder,  therefore,  that 
when  Jesus  separated  himself  from  Jocha- 
nan, and  began  to  be  a  teacher  of  men, 
many  left  Jochanan  and  followed  after 
Jesus;  and  until  this  Jochanan  met  with 
a  violent  end  at  the  hands  of  the  rulers, 
there  was  in  some  sort  a  rivalry  if  not  be- 


THE   UPBRINGING.  33 

tween  the  men  themselves,  at  least  between 
the  followers  of  Jochanan  and  of  Jesus. 

But  even  from  the  first  there  was  a  dif- 
ference in  Jesus'  manner  of  teaching,  if 
not  in  the  teaching  itself.  He,  indeed,  did 
not  wait  for  men  to  come  out  to  him  in  the 
wilderness,  but  returned  to  the  towns  and 
villages  around  the  Sea  of  Galilee.  Many 
of  the  fishermen  left  their  work  to  follow 
him,  and  become,  as  he  said,  "  fishers  of 
men."  He  preached,  as  before  in  the  syna- 
gogues on  the  words  of  the  prophets,  but 
now  he  commenced  to  go  forth  to  preach 
and  teach  among  the  people  in  their 
homes.  Yet  it  was  observed  that  he  went 
not  only  among  the  rich  and  powerful,  who 
are  used  in  our  country  to  receive  all  who 
come  at  meal-times,  but  most  of  all  among 
the  poor,  and  those  despised  of  men  for 
their  ill  life  or  their  degraded  occupations. 
Nor  did  he  despise  those  who  know  not  the 
Law  nor  keep  its  commands,  but  mixed 
freely  with  them,  thereby  incurring  the 
wrath  of  those  among  us,  and  there  are 
many,  who  are  eager  for  the  credit  of  the 
Law.  Still,  though  he  lived  his  life  among 
the  low  and  the  vile,  he  practiced  none  of 


34  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HLW. 

their  ways,  nor  was  aught  of  low  or  vile 
seen  in  him  or  those  with  him.  Yet  he 
turned  against  him  many  who  would  have 
been  well  disposed  towards  him,  in  that  he 
followed  his  cousin's  example,  and  spake 
kindly  to  the  tax-gatherers  and  to  the  sol- 
diers, whom  the  greater  part  of  the  Jews 
regard  as  the  enemies  of  their  country. 

Now,  as  he  began  to  live  his  life  among 
the  people,  he  began  to  do  many  signs 
and  wonders,  like  all  our  great  teachers 
and  prophets.  In  truth,  we  say,  how  shall 
a  man  be  accounted  a  prophet  unless  he 
can  do  wonders  ?  Indeed,  as  Jesus  him- 
self said,  "  Why  marvel  ye  at  the  signs  ? 
I  give  unto  you  an  inheritance  such  as  the 
whole  world  holds  not."  And  the  man- 
ner of  his  wonders  was  this :  if  a  man  was 
afflicted  with  a  demon  of  madness,  he 
would  cause  him  to  fix  his  eyes  upon  his, 
and  after  a  while  would  speak  sternly  and 
suddenly  to  the  demon  within  him,  who 
would  depart  from  him,  rending  his  soul. 
So,  too,  would  he  do  with  women  who 
were  torn  asunder  by  the  demons  fight- 
ing within.  To  these  he  would  speak 
calmly  after  he  had  fixed  their  eyes,  and, 


THE   UPBRINGING.  35 

behold,  a  great  calm  would  come  upon 
them.  But  he  used  no  exorcisms  or  magic 

o 

in  his  healing,  nor  spake  he  in  the  name 
of  God,  but  with  the  tone  of  one  having 
authority  in  himself.  Hence  many  thought 
he  had  within  him  a  greater  Daimon  than 
those  afflicted  men  and  women  whom  he 
healed.  Thence  it  was  thought  that  for 
this  reason  the  demons  of  madness  often 
returned  to  those  whom  he  had  freed  for 
a  while  with  greater  violence  after  he  had 
gone  forth  from  the  place  of  their  habita- 
tion. There  was  much  murmuring  against 
him  for  that  he  did  his  healing,  not  in  the 
name  of  God,  but  in  his  own  name  and  his 
own  authority. 

Yet  he  claimed  no  authority  to  decide 
the  questions  of  the  Law ;  though  many 
applied  to  him  in  difficult  cases,  these  he 
referred  to  the  learned  in  the  Law,  saying, 
"  Do  ye  as  the  scribes  command."  Yet 
it  was  complained  that  he  paid  no  great 
attention  to  their  commands  himself,  nor 
for  his  followers.  Nor  did  he  rebuke  men 
when  he  saw  them  transgressing  the  Law 
even  in  the  greater  transgressions.  Thus 
I  have  heard  it  said  of  him,  that  once  with 


36  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

his  followers,  he  met  a  man  laboring  on  the 
Sabbath  day,  a  sin  which,  according  to  the 
Law,  was  punished  with  stoning.  But  all 
he  said  unto  him  was  this:  "  Man,  if  thou 
knowest  what  thou  doest,  blessed  art  thou  ; 
but  if  thou  knowest  not,  accursed  art  thou, 
and  a  transgressor  of  the  Law."  *  This  is, 
indeed,  a  dark  saying.  Is  each  man,  then, 
to  choose  for  himself  which  commands  of 
the  Law  he  shall  do,  and  which  not  ?  The 
fence  of  the  Law,  which  our  Sages  have 
built  up  with  such  labor  and  toil,  would  be 
stricken  down  at  one  stroke.  Yet  perhaps 
in  this  he  only  followed  the  principle  of  our 
Sages  who  have  said,  "  The  Sabbath  was 
made  for  you,  not  you  for  the  Sabbath." 

Such  was  the  manner  of  life  of  this  Jesus 
up  to  the  time  when  I  first  saw  him  in  the 
Temple.  Men  knew  not  what  to  make  of 
him  ;  many  regarded  him  as  a  prophet  be- 
cause of  the  signs  and  the  wonders  which 
he  did ;  and  those  who  were  looking  forward 
to  the  blessed  day  in  which  Israel  would  be 
free  again  under  its  own  king  hoped  that 
he  was  Elijah  come  again  to  prepare  the 
way  for  the  new  kingdom. 

1  This  Logion  is  only  found  elsewhere  in  one  MS.  of 
the  Gospels,  viz.,  in  the  Codex  Bezae  at  Cambridge.  —  ED. 


III. 


EARLIER  TEACHING. 

SERMON  IN  THE  SYNAGOGUE  OF  THE 
GALILEANS. 


III. 

IT  must  have  been  a  year  after  I  had  first 
seen  Jesus  that  I  saw  him  again  the  second 
time  in  Jerusalem.  It  fell  out  in  this  wise : 
I  was  proceeding  one  morning  to  the  meet- 
ing of  the  Sanhedrim,  when,  as  I  came  near 
the  Synagogue  of  the  Galilaeans  in  the  Fish- 
Market,  I  found  a  crowd  of  men  entering  in. 
I  asked  one  of  them  what  was  going  for- 
ward, and  he  said,  "Jesus  the  Nazarene 
will  expound  the  Law."  So  I  determined 
to  take  the  morning  service  in  this  syna- 
gogue rather  than  with  my  colleagues  in 
the  Temple,  and  went  in,  the  people  giving 
way  before  me,  as  was  my  due  as  a  member 
of  the  Sanhedrim. 

Now,  this  synagogue  of  the  Galilaeans 
differed  in  naught  from  the  rest  of  the 
synagogues  of  the  Jews.  It  cannot  be  that 
thou  hast  not  visited  one  of  these  when 
thou  wast  in  the  Holy  City,  but  perchance 
thy  memory  is  dim  after  all  these  years, 
and  I  will  in  a  few  words  explain  to  thee 


40  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

its  arrangement.  In  the  wall  at  the  west 
end  was  the  cabinet  containing  the  scrolls 
of  the  Law,  with  a  curtain  before  it,  for 
this  is,  as  it  were,  the  Holy  of  Holies  of  the 
synagogue.  The  men  go  up  to  this,  on  to 
the  platform  before  it,  by  three  steps.  Then 
comes  a  vacant  space,  in  the  midst  of  which 
stands  a  dais,  with  a  reading-desk  whereon 
the  Law  is  read :  this  we  call  by  your 
Greek  name  bema.  Then  in  the  rest  of 
the  hall  sit  the  folk,  arranged  in  benches 
one  after  another,  somewhat  as  in  your 
theatres.  Now,  as  I  came  in,  they  had  said 
the  morning  psalms,  and  most  of  the  Eigh- 
teen Blessings,  and  shortly  after  the  read- 
ing of  the  Law  began.  The  curtain  was 
drawn  aside  from  the  holy  ark,  the  scroll  of 
the  Law  was  taken  thence,  to  the  singing 
of  psalms  unto  the  bema.  Then,  as  is 
customary,  the  messenger  of  the  congrega- 
tion summoned  first  to  the  reading  of  the 
Law  a  Cohen,  a  descendant  of  Aaron,  one 
of  the  priestly  caste.  And  after  he  had 
read  some  verses  of  the  Law  in  the  holy 
tongue,  the  dragoman  read  its  translation 
into  Chaldee,  so  as  to  be  understanded  of 
the  unlearned  folk,  and  of  the  women  who 


EARLIER   TEACHING.  41 

were  in  the  gallery  outside  the  synagogue, 
and  separated  from  it  by  a  grating.  Then 
after  the  priest  came  a  Levite,  who  also 
read  some  verses,  and  after  him  an  ordinary 
Israelite.  Then  the  messenger  of  the  syn- 
agogue called  out,  "  Let  Rabbi  Joshua  ben 
Joseph  arise."  Then  Jesus  the  Nazarene 
went  up  to  the  bema  and  read  his  appointed 
verses,  and  these  were  translated  as  before 
by  the  dragoman.  And  after  the  reading 
of  the  Law  was  concluded,  the  Parnass,  or 
president  of  the  congregation,  requested 
Jesus  to  read  the  Haphtara,  the  lesson 
from  the  prophets ;  and  this  he  did,  using 
the  cantillation  with  which  we  chant 
words  of  Holy  Scripture.  Yet  never  heard 
I  one  whose  voice  so  thrilled  me,  and 
brought  home  to  one  the  import  of  the 
great  words  ;  and  this  was  strange,  for  his 
accent  was,  as  I  had  before  noticed,  that 
of  the  Galilaean  peasantry,  at  which  we  of 
Jerusalem  were  wont  to  scoff.  Then,  after 
the  Law  had  been  returned  to  the  ark 
with  song  and  psalm,  Jesus  turned  round 
to  the  people  on  the  bema  and  began  his 
discourse.  It  is  near  five-and-twenty  years 
since  I  heard  him,  and  much  have  I  for- 


42  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

gotten  in  that  long  time.  But  many  of  his 
sayings  still  ring  in  my  ears,  and  I  will 
here  put  down,  as  far  as  possible  in  order, 
all  that  I  can  remember  of  the  discourse.1 

"  It  hath  been  written  by  the  Prophet 
Esaias  :  Behold,  his  reward  is  with  him, 
and  his  work  before  him.  Yea,  behold  a 
man  and  his  work  before  him.  He  that 
worketh  not,  let  him  not  eat.  Yet  he  that 
plougheth,  let  him  plough  in  hope ;  he 
that  thresheth,  thresh  in  hope  of  partak- 
ing. Howbeit,  he  who  longs  to  be  rich  is 
like  a  man  who  drinketh  seawater:  the 
more  he  drinketh  the  more  thirsty  he  be- 
comes, and  never  leaves  off  drinking  till 
he  perish.  Blessed  is  he  who  also  fasts 
that  he  may  feed  the  poor :  for  it  is  more 
blessed  to  give  than  to  receive.  Yet  let 
thy  alms  sweat  into  thy  hands  until  thou 
know  to  whom  thou  givest.  Where  there 
are  pains,  thither  hastens  the  physician : 
that  which  is  weak  shall  be  saved  by  that 

1  It  must  have  been  from  a  report  of  this  discourse, 
and  that  given  on  p.  92,  that  the  majority  of  those  utter- 
ances of  Jesus  have  been  derived  which  are  known  in 
modern  theology  as  "  Agrapha."  —  ED. 


EARLIER   TEACHING.  43 

which  is  strong.  For  the  sake  of  the  weak 
I  was  weak,  for  the  sake  of  the  hungry  I 
hungered,  for  the  sake  of  the  thirsty  I 
thirsted.  But  woe  to  those  who  have  yet 
hypocritically  taken  from  others ;  who  are 
able  to  help  themselves,  and  yet  wish  to  / 
take  from  others :  for  each  man  shall  give 
account  in  the  day  of  judgment. 

"  That  which  thou  hatest  thou  shalt  not 
do  to  another.  Good  things  must  come  ; 
he  is  blessed  through  whom  they  come. 
Love  covereth  a  multitude  of  sins ;  so 
never  be  joyful  save  when  you  look  upon 
your  brother's  countenance  in  love.  Let 
not  the  sun  go  down  upon  your  wrath. 
For  the  greatest  of  crimes  is  this :  if  a 

o 

man  shall  sadden  his  brother's  spirit. 
Blessed,  too,  are  they  who  mourn  for  the 
perdition  of  unbelievers.  Do  not  give 
occasion  to  the  Wicked  One.  Who  is  the 
Wicked  One?  He  that  tempts.  Yet 
none  shall  reach  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
unless  he  have  been  tempted:  for  our 
Father  which  is  in  heaven  would  rather 
the  repentance  of  a  sinner  than  his  correc-  ^ 
tion.  Yet  he  will  cleanse  the  house  of  his 
kingdom  from  all  offence.  Be,  therefore, 


44  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

careful  and  prudent  and  wise,  lest  any  of 
you  be  caught  in  the  snares  of  the  devil, 
for  that  ancient  enemy  goes  about  buffet- 
ing. 

"  If  thou  hast  seen  thy  brother,  thou 
hast  seen  thy  Lord,  God  the  Father,  whose 
fatherland  is  everywhere,  in  heaven  and 
upon  earth.  Far  and  near,  the  Lord 
knoweth  his  own.  So  grieve  not  the  holy 
spirit  which  is  in  you,  nor  extinguish  the 
light  which  shines  in  you.  Guard  the 
flesh  pure,  and  the  signet  spotless,  so  that 
ye  may  take  hold  upon  eternal  life.  For 
our  possessions  are  in  heaven ;  therefore, 
sons  of  men,  purchase  unto  yourselves  by 
these  transitory  things  which  are  not 
yours,  what  is  yours,  and  shall  not  pass 
away." 

I  cannot  tell  thee,  Aglaophonos,  how 
deeply  this  discourse  affected  me.  Just  as 
the  Hellenes  are  eager  to  find  each  day 
some  new  beauty  in  man  or  the  world,  or 
some  new  truth  about  the  relation  of 
things,  so  we  Hebrews  rejoice  in  finding 
new  ideals  in  the  relations  of  men.  Each 
of  our  Sages  prides  himself  on  this  — 


EARLIER   TEACHING.  45 

that  he  has  said  some  maxim  of  wisdom 
that  none  had  thought  of  before  him,  and 
so  each  of  them  is  remembered  in  the 
minds  of  men  by  one  or  more  of  his  favor- 
ite maxims.  But  it  is  rare  if  in  a  whole 
lifetime  a  sage  sayeth  more  than  one  word 
•fit  to  be  treasured  up  among  men.  Yet 
was  this  man  Jesus  dropping  pearls  of 
wisdom  from  his  mouth  in  prodigal  pro- 
fusion. As  each  memorable  word  fell 
from  his  lips,  a  murmur  of  delighted  sur- 
prise passed  round  the  synagogue,  and 
each  man  looked  to  his  neighbor  with 
brightened  eyes.  Some  of  the  thoughts, 
indeed,  I  had  heard  from  other  of  our 
Sages,  but  never  in  so  pointed  a  form, 
surely  never  in  such  profusion  from  a 
single  sage. 

And  if  what  was  said  delighted  us,  the 
manner  in  which  it  was  said  entranced 
us  still  more.  The  voice  of  the  speaker 
answered  to  the  thoughts  he  expressed,  as 
the  Kinnor  of  David,  according  to  our 
Sages,  turned  the  wind  into  music.  When 
he  spoke  of  love,  his  voice  was  as  the 
cooing  dove ;  when  he  denounced  the  op- 
pressor, it  clanged  like  a  silver  trumpet. 


46  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

Indeed,  his  whole  countenance  and  bear- 
ing changed  in  like  manner,  so  that  every 
word  he  uttered  seemed  to  be  the  outcome 
of  his  whole  being. 

But  most  of  all  was  it  the  vividness  of 
his  eyes  that  impressed  his  words  upon 
us.  I  had  seen  them  flashing  with  scorn 
in  the  Temple,  I  now  saw  them  melting 
with  tenderness  in  the  synagogue ;  and 
there  was  this  of  strange  in  them,  that 
they  seemed  to  speak  other  and  deeper 
words.  As  he  gazed  upon  us,  I  felt  as  if 
all  my  inmost  being  was  bare  to  the  gaze 
v  of  those  eyes.  They  seemed  to  know  all 
my  secret  thoughts  and  sins ;  and  yet  I 
felt  not  ashamed,  for  as  they  saw  the  sins, 
so  they  seemed  to  speak  forgiveness  of 
them. 

What  I  felt  then,  others  felt  with  me, 
for,  as  I  afterwards  learnt,  each  man  felt 
the  same  as  the  eyes  of  Jesus  fell  upon 
him  ;  and  most  curious  it  was  that  each 
man  thought  as  I  did,  that  the  eyes  of  the 
speaker  were  upon  him^  during  the  whole 
of  the  discourse.  I  have  seen  here  in  Alex- 
andria portraits  of  men  painted  by  your 
subtlest  artists,  in  which,  from  whatever 


EARLIER   TEACHING.  47 

place  you  looked  at  them,  the  eyes  seemed 
to  gaze  upon  you.  So  was  it  with  Jesus. 
Not  alone  did  I,  who  was,  as  a  member  of 
the  Sanhedrim,  sitting  immediately  before 
him,  feel  his  eyes  pierce  to  my  soul,  but  all 
who  were  in  that  synagogue  felt  the  same. 
Nor  did  the  effect  die  away  after  I  had 
left  the  synagogue ;  for  days  and  days 
afterwards,  whenever  I  closed  my  eyes,  or 
gazed  for  long  on  the  wall,  I  could  see  the 
eyes  of  Jesus,  and  with  it  his  whole  face> 
gazing  upon  me. 

I  had  left  the  synagogue  a  little  before 
the  others,  because  a  messenger  had  been 
sent  from  the  Sanhedrim  to  seek  for  a 
member  who  should  make  up  the  quorum 
of  Twenty-Three ;  and  this  messenger, 
hearing  that  a  member  of  the  Sanhedrim 
was  in  the  synagogue  of  the  Galilaeans, 
sent  in  to  summon  me.  When  the  sitting 
was  over,  I  sought  for  Jesus  again,  but 
found  that  he  had  left  the  city.  And  for 
a  time  I  neither  saw  nor  heard  aught 
more  of  him,  save  such  rumors  as  came 
to  the  Holy  City  from  Galilee.  About 
this  time  many  joined  themselves  unto 
him,  going  whithersoever  he  went.  Those, 


48  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

too,  who  had  joined  themselves  to  Jochanan 
passed  over  to  him,  for  Jochanan  had  been 
slain  by  Herod,  whom  he  had  rebuked  for 
his  wicked  living.  It  was,  indeed,  said 
that  Herod  had  also  captured  this  Jesus 
when  he  found  that  he  was  following  in 
the  footsteps  of  Jochanan  ;  but  this  proved 
to  be  untrue,  and  the  multitude  thronged 
more  and  more  after  Jesus,  and  from  this 
time  he  began  to  teach  them  regularly, 
after  the  manner  of  our  Sages.  Yet  he 
did  not  pronounce  decisions  of  Halacha 
on  questions  of  our  Law ;  indeed,  he  dis- 
claimed all  interference  with  such  ques- 
tions. "  I  am  not  come,"  he  said,  "  to  take 
away  from  the  Law  of  Moses,  nor  to  add 
to  the  Law  of  Moses  am  I  come."  Only 
one  saying  of  his  have  I  heard  of  wherein 
he  said  aught  at  variance  with  the  Torah. 
When  the  children  of  a  man  who  had  re- 
cently died  asked  him  in  what  way  should 
the  property  be  divided,  he  said,  "  Let  son 
and  daughter  inherit  alike."  In  this,  as  in 
other  things,  he  was  more  favorable  to 
the  claims  of  the  women  than  the  Law 
and  the  Sages.  For  this  reason,  perhaps, 
it  was  that  many  women  followed  after 


EARLIER   TEACHING.  49 

him,  even  joined  in  prayer  with  him  and 
those  with  him,  against  the  custom  of  our 
nation.  Hence  arose  much  scandal  among 
the  more  rigidly  pious  among  us,  who  fol- 
low the  saying  of  Joseph  ben  Jochanan, 
"  Engage  not  in  much  converse  with 
women."  But  I  have  heard  naught  of 
evil  that  resulted  from  this  free  mingling 
of  men  and  women  among  his  followers. 
Yet  Jesus  was  not  against  the  due  subor- 
dination of  women,  for  he  also  said,  "  Let 
the  wife  be  in  subordination  to  her  hus- 
band." 

Thou  must  know  that  among  us  our 
Sages  are  of  two  kinds,  the  Halachists  and 
the  Hagadists.  The  former  deal  with  mat- 
ters of  the  Law  according  to  the  tradition 
they  have  received  from  their  teacher;  but 
the  latter  expound  the  words  of  the 
Scripture,  and  deal  with  the  moral  rela- 
tions of  man  to  man.  Some  of  our  Sages, 
indeed,  like  the  great  Hillel,  who  died 
when  I  was  a  child,  have  been  equally 
masters  both  of  the  Halacha  and  the 
Hagada ;  and  in  many  ways  the  teaching 
of  Jesus  seems  to  have  resembled,  if  it  did 
not  follow,  that  of  Hillel.  I  must  tell  thee 


50  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

one  anecdote  about  this  Hillel  which  is 
well  known  amongst  us.  He  was  distin- 
guished for  his  evenness  of  temper,  and 
men  would  often  in  sport  try  to  make  him 
lose  it.  A  heathen  came  before  him  one 
day,  and  declared  that  he  would  become 
a  Jew  if^  only  Hillel  would  tell  him  the 
whole  Law  while  he  stood  upon  one  foot, 
hoping  thereby  to  irritate  Hillel  by  his  pre- 
sumption. But  Hillel  said  only,  "  What 
thou  wilt  not  for  thyself,  do  not  to  thy 
neighbor.  This  is  the  whole  of  the  Law ; 
all  the  rest  is  but  commentary  thereon. 
Go  and  learn."  Now,  among  the  disci- 
ples of  Hillel  was  one  who  compiled  for 
the  heathen  a  summary  of  the  Law  in  the 
spirit  of  Hillel ;  and  it  seemed  to  me,  from 
what  I  heard  of  Jesus'  teaching,  that  he 
had  learnt  much  from  this  summary,  which 
is  called  "  THE  Two  WAYS."  I  will  have 
a  copy  written  out  for  thee,  for  it  is  very 
short. 

Now,  in  all  the  teaching  of  Jesus  which 
I  heard  of  about  this  time,  he  seems  to 
have  expanded,  but  in  no  wise  modified, 
the  teaching  of  "  The  Two  Ways."  Above 
all,  he  seems  to  have  warned  men  against 


EARLIER   TEACHING.  5 1 

the  evil  feelings  within,  that  lead  to  sins 
against  the  Law,  and  therein  differed 
somewhat  from  the  practice  of  our  Sages, 
who  think  that  by  doing  the  Law  and 
keeping  to  it  rightful  feelings  shall  grow, 
and  evil  thoughts  fly  away. 

Yet  while  in  many  ways  Jesus  seemed 
to  be  of  the  School  of  Hillel,  in  others  he 
cast  in  his  lot  with  the  men  among  us  who 
claim  to  be  especially  favored  of  God,  be- 
cause —  thou  wilt  smile,  Aglaophonos  — 
because  they  are  poor.  Thou  hast  read 
our  Psalms,  and  knowest  with  what  insist- 
ence the  poor  and  the  righteous,  the  rich 
and  the  wicked,  are  identified  in  them. 
Many  of  our  nation  have  taken  this  to 
heart,  and  as  it  were  pride  themselves 
upon  their  humility,  as  some  of  them  call 
themselves  Ebionim,  or  the  Poor;  some, 
the  Zaddikim,  or  Righteous;  some,  Chasi- 
dim,  or  Pious.  Thou  canst  not  call  them 
a  sect,  for  in  a  way  they  include  the  whole 
nation.  In  the  Eighteen  Blessings  which 
form  the  staple  of  our  daily  prayers,  the 
Lord  is  blessed  as  the  Guardian  and  Ref- 
uge of  the  Zaddikim.  Now,  it  was  chiefly 
among  these  men,  whether  they  called 


52  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

themselves  Ebionim,  or  Zaddikim^  or 
Chasidim,  that  Jesus  found  his  chief  ad- 
herents, though  he  seems  to  give  his  pref- 
erence to  the  Ebionim^  who  have  always 
been  insisting  upon  the  blessedness  of  the 
poor.  Now,  these  men  consider  themselves 
to  be  beyond  all  others  the  servants  of  the 
Lord,  and  identify  themselves  with  that 
picture  of  the  servant  which  has  been 
given  by  the  Prophet  Esaias.  Thus  in 
all  these  ways  Jesus  appealed  to  the  more 
earnest  part  of  our  nation,  and  in  him 
were  conjoined  most  of  the  movements 
that  had  touched  us  most  deeply.  If  any 
had  said  at  this  time,  "  Jesus  the  Nazarene 
is  a  follower  of  Jochanan  the  Baptizer,  and 
preaches  '  The  Two  Ways '  to  the  Poor," 
none  could  have  gainsaid  him. 

Yet  all  were  wondering  what  he  would 
say  to  the  other  side  of  our  nation's  hopes. 
The  life  of  our  nation  had  begun  with  a 
deliverance ;  our  chief  national  feast  recalls 
that  deliverance  from  Egypt  to  us  every 
year  as  the  spring  comes  round.  We  have 
become  subject  to  all  the  great  kingdoms 
that  have  grown  up  round  us,  yet  again  and 
again  we  have  been  delivered  from  each. 


EARLIER   TEACHING.  53 

Thou  and  I  have  often  wondered  how  it 
has  come  about  that  both  Hellenes  and 
Hebrews,  who  feel  ourselves  in  different 
ways  higher  than  these  stolid  Romans 
who  rule  us,  have  yet  become  subject  to 
them.  .Thy  nation  hath  acquiesced  in 
their  rule ;  my  people  never  will.  Every 
man  who  promises  greatness  among  us  is 
hoped  for  as  the  Deliverer.  Many  men 
about  this  time  began  to  ask,  Will  Jesus 
the  Nazarene  be  the  Deliverer? 


IV. 

THE  TWO  WAYS. 


IV. 


Now,  this  is  the  "  CATECHISM  OF  THE 
Two  WAYS  "  which  I  have  had  copied  out 
for  thee,  for  in  it  is  the  essence  of  the 
teaching  of  Jesus,  as  he  himself  recog- 
nized in  speaking  to  me,  as  thou  wilt 
shortly  hear. 

"  There  are  two  ways,  one  of  life  and 
one  of  death,  but  there  is  a  great  differ- 
ence between  the  two  ways.  Now,  the 
way  of  life  is  this:  first,  Thou  shalt  love 
God  who  made  thee ;  secondly,  thy  neigh- 
bor as  thyself,  and  all  things  whatsoever 
thou  wouldest  not  should  be  done  to  thee, 
do  thou  also  not  do  to  another.  Thou 
shalt  not  kill,  thou  shalt  not  commit  adul- 
tery, thou  shalt  not  corrupt  boys,  thou 
shalt  not  commit  fornication,  thou  shalt 
not  steal,  thou  shalt  not  use  witchcraft, 
thou  shalt  not  use  enchantments,  thou 
shalt  not  kill  an  infant  whether  before  or 
after  birth,  thou  shalt  not  covet  thy  neigh- 
bor's goods. 


58  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  forswear  thyself,  thou 
shalt  not  bear  false  witness,  thou  shalt  not 
revile,  thou  shalt  not  bear  malice. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  be  double-minded  nor 
double-tongued  ;  for  duplicity  of  tongue  is 
a  snare  of  death. 

"  Thy  speech  shall  not  be  false  nor  vain. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  be  covetous,  nor  an 
extortioner,  nor  a  hypocrite,  nor  malig- 
nant, nor  haughty.  Thou  shalt  not  take 
evil  counsel  against  thy  neighbor. 

"  Thou  shalt  hate  no  man,  but  some 
thou  shalt  rebuke,  and  for  some  thou  shalt 
pray,  and  some  thou  shalt  love  above  thine 
own  soul. 

"  My  child,  flee  from  all  evil,  and  from 
all  that  is  like  unto  it. 

"  Be  not  soon  angry,  for  anger  leadeth 
to  murder;  nor  given  to  party-spirit,  nor 
contentious,  nor  quick-tempered,  for  from 
all  these  are  generated  murders. 

"  My  child,  be  not  lustful,  for  lust  lead- 
eth to  fornication ;  neither  be  a  filthy 
talker,  nor  a  lifter-up  of  the  eyes,  for  from 
all  these  things  are  generated  adulteries. 

"  My  child,  be  not  thou  an  observer  of 
birds,  for  it  leadeth  to  idolatry ;  nor  a 


THE    TWO    WAYS.  59 

charmer,  nor  an  astrologer,  nor  a  user  of 
purifications ;  nor  be  thou  willing  to  look 
on  those  things,  for  from  all  these  is  gen- 
erated idolatry. 

"  My  child,  be  not  a  liar,  for  lying  lead- 
eth  to  theft ;  nor  a  lover  of  money,  nor 
fond  of  vainglory,  for  from  all  these  things 
are  generated  thefts. 

"  My  child,  be  not  a  murmurer,  for  it 
leadeth  to  blasphemy ;  neither  self-willed, 
nor  evil-minded,  for  from  all  these  things 
are  generated  blasphemies. 

"  Be  thou  long-suffering,  and  merciful, 
and  harmless,  and  quiet,  and  good,  and 
trembling  continually  at  the  words  which 
thou  hast  heard. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  exalt  thyself,  nor  shalt 
thou  give  presumption  to  thy  soul.  Thy 
soul  shall  not  be  joined  to  the  lofty,  but 
with  the  just  and  lowly  shalt  thou  con- 
verse. 

"  The  events  that  happen  to  thee  shalt 
thou  accept  as  good,  knowing  that  without 
God  nothing  taketh  place. 

"  My  child,  thou  shalt  remember  night 
and  day  him  that  speaketh  to  thee  the 
word  of  God. 


60  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

"  But  thou  shalt  seek  out  day  by  day 
the  faces  of  the  saints,  that  thou  mayest 
rest  in  their  words. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  desire  division,  but 
shalt  make  peace  between  those  at  strife  ; 
so  thou  shalt  judge  justly.  Thou  shalt 
not  respect  a  person  in  rebuking  for  trans- 
gressions. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  be  of  two  minds 
whether  it  shall  be  or  not. 

"  Be  not  one  that  stretcheth  out  his 
hands  to  receive,  but  shutteth  them  close 
for  giving. 

"  If  thou  hast,  thou  shalt  give  with  thine 
hands  a  ransom  for  thy  sins. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  hesitate  to  give,  nor 
when  thou  givest  shalt  thou  murmur,  for 
thou  shalt  know  who  is  the  good  recom- 
penser  of  the  reward. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  turn  away  from  him 
that  needeth,  but  shalt  share  all  things 
with  thy  brother,  and  shalt  not  say  that 
they  are  thine  own ;  for  if  ye  are  fellow- 
sharers  in  that  which  is  imperishable,  how 
much  more  in  perishable  things. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  take  away  thine  hand 
from  thy  son  or  from  thy  daughter,  but 


THE   TWO    WAYS.  6 1 

from  their  youth  up  shalt  thou  teach  them 
the  fear  of  God. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  in  thy  bitterness  lay 
commands  on  thy  man-servant  or-  thy 
maid-servant,  who  hope  in  the  same  God, 
lest  they  should  not  fear  him  who  is  God 
over  you  both ;  for  He  cometh  not  to  call 
men  according  to  the  outward  appearance, 
but  to  those  whom  the  Spirit  hath  pre- 
pared. 

"  But  ye,  servants,  shall  be  subject  to 
your  masters  as  to  a  figure  of  God  in 
reverence  and  fear. 

"  Thou  shalt  hate  all  hypocrisy,  and 
everything  which  is  not  pleasing  to  the 
Lord. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  forsake  the  command- 
ments of  the  Lord,  but  shalt  keep  what 
thou  hast  received,  neither  adding  thereto 
nor  taking  away  from  it. 

"  Thou  shalt  confess  thy  transgressions, 
and  shalt  not  come  to  thy  prayer  with  an 
evil  conscience.  This  is  the  way  of  life. 

"  But  the  way  of  death  is  this.  First  of 
all,  it  is  evil  and  full  of  curse ;  murders, 
adulteries,  lusts,  fornications,  thefts,  idola- 
tries, witchcrafts,  sorceries,  robberies,  false- 


62  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

witnessings,  hypocrisies,  double-hearted- 
ness,  deceit,  pride,  wickedness,  self-will, 
covetousness,  filthy  talking,  jealousy,  pre- 
sumption, haughtiness,  flattery. 

"  Persecutors  of  the  good,  hating  truth, 
loving  a  lie,  not  knowing  the  reward  of 
righteousness,  not  cleaving  to  that  which 
is  good  nor  to  righteous  judgment,  watch- 
ing not  for  the  good  but  for  the  evil,  far 
from  whom  is  meekness  and  patience,  lov- 
ing vain  things,  seeking  after  reward,  not 
pitying  the  poor,  not  toiling  with  him  who 
is  vexed  with  toil,  not  knowing  Him  that 
made  them,  murderers  of  children,  destroy- 
ers of  the  image  of  God,  turning  away 
from  him  that  is  in  need,  vexing  him  that 
is  afflicted,  advocates  of  the  rich,  lawless 
judges  of  the  poor,  wholly  sinful. 

"  Take  heed  that  no  one  make  thee  to 
err  from  this  way  of  teaching,  since  he 
teacheth  thee  not  according  to  God." 


V. 

THE   WOMAN   TAKEN   IN  ADULTERY. 
THE   RICH   YOUNG   MAN. 


V. 


IT  must  have  been  many  months  after  I 
had  heard  him  discourse  in  the  Galilaean 
synagogue  that  I  again  saw  Jesus  the 
Nazarene.  We  in  Jerusalem  had  our  own 
concerns  to  think  of. 

At  this  time  the  long  monopoly  of  rule 
by  the  Sadducees  was  gradually  being 
broken.  Of  the  three  divisions  of  the 
Sanhedrim,  that  of  the  ordinary  Israelites 
had  become  almost  entirely  composed  of 
the  Pharisees ;  I  myself  had  been  elected 
as  one  of  that  party,  and  even  in  the  other 
two  sections  of  the  Priests  and  of  the 
Levites,  many,  especially  among  the  latter, 
held  with  the  Pharisees.  Nor  was  this 
without  influence  upon  the  political  issues 
of  the  times.  The  Sadducees,  being  the 
sacerdotal  party,  had  no  cause  why  they 
should  be  dissatisfied  with  the  position 
they  held  in  the  State  under  the  Romans  ; 
but  we  of  the  Pharisees  felt  far  otherwise 
about  the  national  hopes  for  deliverance. 


66  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

Since  my  days  the  influence  of  the  Phar- 
isees has  become  predominant  in  the 
nation,  and  I  foresee  that  the  struggle 
between  us  and  the  Romans  cannot  be 
delayed  for  long.  At  the  time  of  which 
I  am  writing,  the  hegemony  had  not  yet 
passed  over  to  the  Pharisees,  and  it  was 
of  import  for  us  all  to  know  whether  any 
man  of  influence  was  on  our  side,  or  on 
that  of  the  Sadducees,  or  whether  he  cared 
for  neither,  and  cast  in  his  lot  with  the 
smaller  sects. 

Now,  it  happened  about  this  time  that  I 
was  attending  my  place  in  the  Sanhedrim 
of  Israelites,  to  judge  of  a  case  of  adultery. 
But  in  this  matter  our  Sages,  and  espe- 
cially those  of  the  Pharisaic  tradition,  had 
made  great  changes  in  the  Law  as  laid 
down  for  us  by  Moses ;  for  he,  as  thou 
knowest,  commands  that  a  woman  taken 
in  adultery  shall  be  stoned  to  death.  Now, 
for  a  long  time  among  us  there  has  been 
an  increasing  horror  of  inflicting  the 
death  penalty.  If  a  Sanhedrim  inflicts 
capital  punishment  more  than  once  in 
seven  years,  it  is  called  a  Sanhedrim  of 
murderers.  Yet  the  Law  of  Moses  de- 


THE  WOMAN  TAKEN  IN  ADULTERY.    67 

clared  that  whosoever  was  guilty  of  adul- 
tery would  be  put  to  death.  What,  then, 
was  to  be  done  ?  It  is  against  the  princi- 
ple of  justice  that  any  should  be  punished 
for  an  offence  of  which  he  is  ignorant. 
Hence,  in  capital  offences,  our  Sages,  to 
mercy  inclined,  have  laid  it  down  that  a 
man  must  be  assumed  to  be  ignorant  of 
the  guilt  of  the  offence,  unless  it  be  proved 
that  he  had  been  solemnly  warned  of  its 
gravity ;  and  in  our  Law  proof  can  only 
be  given  by  two  simultaneous  witnesses. 
Hence  it  is  impossible  to  obtain  convic- 
tion for  a  woman  who  hath  committed 
adultery,  unless  proof  is  given  that  she 
hath  been  previously  warned  by  two  per- 
sons at  once.  This  can  scarcely  ever  be. 
No  Jewish  woman  in  my  time  has  ever 
been  stoned  as  the  Law  commands  for 
this  sin.  Some  think  that  this  is  too 
great  a  leniency,  and  of  evil  result  for  the 
morality  of  the  folk. 

When  I  arrived  at  the  hall  of  polished 
stones  near  the  Temple,  in  which  the  San- 
hedrim holds  its  sittings,  the  trial  had 
nearly  come  to  a  conclusion.  The  inquiry 
had  been  made  if  any  two  credible  wit- 


68  AS   OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

nesses  had  given  the  woman  the  prelim- 
inary caution,  and  none  answering  to  the 
call,  it  remained  only  for  the  Ab  Beth  Din, 
the  president  of  the  court,  to  dismiss  the 
prisoner  with  the  words  of  caution  and 
advice  which  are  customary  on  such 
occasions :  "  My  daughter,  perhaps  thou 
wert  led  into  sin  by  too  much  wine,  or  by 
thoughtlessness,  or  perhaps  by  thy  youth ; 
perchance  it  was  mixing  in  crowds,  or 
wicked  companions  that  led  thee  to  sin : 
go,  and  for  the  sake  of  the  great  Name, 
do  not  bring  it  to  pass  that  thou  must  be 
destroyed  by  the  water  of  jealousy."  And 
with  these  words  the  court  was  dismissed, 
and  several  of  us  were  appointed  to  take 
the  woman  to  her  home,  and  induce  the 
man,  her  husband,  to  take  her  to  him  once 
again.  Now,  as  we  were  passing  through 
the  courts  of  the  Temple,  we  saw  Jesus 
the  Nazarene  in  one  of  the  smaller  courts, 
seated,  teaching  the  people,  some  of  whom 
sat  at  his  feet.  But  it  seemed  to  some  of 
us  a  favorable  opportunity  to  test  what  he 
would  say  as  regards  the  Law  of  Moses 
relating  to  adultery  :  for  if  he  would  declare 
that  the  Law  must  be  carried  out  in  all  its 


THE  WOMAN  TAKEN  IN  ADULTERY.     69 

rigor,  that  would  show  that  our  Sages  were 
more  merciful  than  he ;  if,  on  the  other 
hand,  he  adopted  the  opinion  of  our  Sages, 
that  would  in  so  far  commit  him  to  support 
their  attitude  towards  the  Law  in  general. 
In  any  case,  it  seemed  a  suitable  occasion 
to  test  his  power  of  dealing  with  the  Law, 
and  it  is  customary  among  us  to  put  such 
test  cases  before  the  younger  Sages. 

We  therefore  turned  aside  and  entered 
into  the  smaller  court,  and  all  rose  to  do 
honor  to  the  Sanhedrim.  Then  one  of  us 
said  to  him,  "  Rabbi,  this  woman  was  taken 
in  adultery,  in  the  very  act.  Now,  Moses 
in  the  Law  hath  commanded  that  such 
should  be  stoned :  what  sayest  thou  ?  " 
Now,  when  the  man  told  him  that  the 
woman  had  been  taken  in  the  very  act  of 
adultery,  a  deep  blush  passed  over  his  face, 
and  he  turned  his  eyes  downwards.  Then 
he  bent  down  to  the  ground,  hiding  his 
face  altogether  from  us,  and  writing,  as  it 
were,  something  on  the  sand  of  the  floor. 
Now,  at  first,  I  thought  of  the  cry  of  the 
money-changers  that  I  had  heard,  and  felt 
ashamed  in  my  soul  that  such  a  question 
should  be  brought  before  this  man,  of  all 


/O  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

men :  for  our  Sages  have  said,  "  The  great- 
est of  sins  is  this  —  to  bring  a  blush  upon 
thy  neighbor's  face  in  public."  But  the 
others  thought  not  of  this,  but  once  more 
they  asked  him,  "  Rabbi,  what  sayest  thou 
shall  be  done  in  this  case  ? "  Then,  with- 
out raising  his  head,  Jesus  said  in  a  low 
tone,  "  Let  him  among  you  that  is  without 
sin  cast  the  first  stone."  Then  we  saw  that 
his  shame  had  been  for  us,  and  for  our 
want  of  feeling  in  putting  such  a  question 
in  the  very  presence  of  her  who  had  sinned. 
And  in  this  matter  we  hold  that  sin  can 
be  in  thought  as  well  as  in  act,  and  which 
of  us  could  say  that  we  were  without  sin 
even  in  thought  ?  So,  in  very  shame,  we 
turned  and  went,  and  left  Jesus  alone  with 
the  woman. 

Yet,  after  we  had  come  away  from  him, 
Matathias  ben  Meshullam  said,  "  That  is 
well,  —  we  are  rightly  rebuked ;  but  yet, 
dost  thou  not  see  that  this  man  hath  not 
answered  our  question,  nor  do  we  know,  as 
we  wished,  what  attitude  he  takes  towards 
the  carrying  out  of  the  Law  ?  I  hear  that 
each  morning  he  preaches  to  the  people  in 
the  Temple.  Let  us  now  tomorrow 


THE  RICH   YOUNG  MAN.  7 1 

put  such  questions  to  him  that  he  can- 
not evade,  and  find  out  to  which  of  our 
parties  he  belongs;  for  this  is  a  man  that 
is  getting  great  weight  with  the  people, 
and  it  imports  us  to  know  where  he  stands 
with  regard  to  us."  So  it  was  determined 
among  us  that  the  next  morning  a  Sad- 
ducee  and  a  Pharisee  should  put  to  him 
queries  which  should  determine  what  views 
he  held  on  the  great  questions  which  dis- 
tinguished the  two  great  parties  of  the 
State. 

But  that  very  afternoon  I  was  to  learn 
that  this  Jesus  had  to  deal  with  questions 
with  which  none  of  our  parties  concerned 
themselves.  For,  as  I  was  coming  near  to 
Gethsemane,  I  met  Jesus  with  a  band  of 
men  and  women  going  out  towards  Beth- 
any, and  I  passed  them  with  the  salutation 
of  "  Peace."  But  as  I  passed,  a  young 
man  whom  I  knew,  that  had  recently  come 
into  great  possessions  upon  the  death  of 
his  father,  came  up  and  asked,  "  Who  is 
that  man  whom  thou  hast  just  greeted  ?  " 
i  and  I  said,  "  Jesus  the  Nazarene."  Then, 
suddenly,  he  set  off  running  to  catch  them 
up,  and  being  curious,  I  turned  and  fol- 


/2  AS  OTffEXS  SAW  HIM. 

lowed  him.  When  I  reached  them  I  found 
the  young  man  kneeling  before  Jesus,  gaz- 
ing up  to  him,  and  he  said, "  Good  Master, 
I  have  inherited  great  possessions ;  what 
shall  I  do  that  I  may  inherit  the  life  ever- 
lasting? "  Jesus  said  to  him,  "  Call  not  me 
'  Good ; '  none  is  good  but  the  One.  If 
thou  wouldest  enter  into  life,  do  the  com- 
mandments." The  young  man  asked, 
"  Which  ? "  Jesus  said,  using  the  doctrine 
of  "  The  Two  Ways,"  "  Do  not  kill,  do  not 
commit  adultery,  do  not  steal,  do  not  bear 
y  false  witness,  do  not  defraud,  honor  thy 
father  and  thy  mother,  and  love  thy  neigh- 
bor as  thyself."  Then  the  young  man 
said,  "  All  these  things  have  I  kept  from 
my  youth  up :  what  lack  I  yet  ?  "  Then 
Jesus  said,  "  One  thing  thou  lackest :  go 
thy  way,  sell  all  thou  hast,  and  give  unto 
the  poor,  and  thou  shalt  have  heavenly 
treasures :  come  then  and  follow  me." 
The  young  man  began  to  scratch  his  head, 
and  seemed  in  doubt.  Then  Jesus  said 
unto  him,  "  How  is  it  thou  canst  say,  '  I 
have  done  the  Law  and  the  Prophets,' 
since  it  is  written  in  the  Law,  '  Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself?  Behold, 


THE  RICH   YOUNG  MAN.  73 

many  of  thy  brothers,  sons  of  Abraham, 
are  clothed  but  in  dung,  and  die  for  hun- 
ger, while  thy  house  is  full  of  many  goods, 
and  there  goeth  not  forth  aught  from  it 
unto  them."  But  the  young  man  rose,  and 
went  away  in  sorrow  and  confusion.  Then 
Jesus  looked  round  upon  those  who  were 
there,  and  said,  "  How  hard  it  is  for  them 
that  trust  in  riches  to  enter  into  the  king- 
dom of  God  !  It  is  easier  for  an  elephant 
to  go  through  a  needle's  eye,  as  the  saying 
is,  than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  God."  Then  a  murmur  arose 
among  all  those  present,  and  they  began 
to  move  on,  and  I  left  them.  And  I  said 
to  myself,  "  This  man  is  neither  Pharisee, 
nor  Sadducee,  nor  Herodian ;  these  be  the 
thoughts  of  the  Ebionim." 


VI. 

THE   TESTINGS   IN  THE  TEMPLE. 


VI. 

Now,  on  the  morrow,  many  of  us  who 
had  agreed  together  to  test  the  opinions  of 
this  Jesus  went  to  the  Temple  and  found 
Jesus  walking  in  the  corridors.  Then  he 
that  was  of  most  authority  among  us  said 
unto  Jesus,  "  Rabbi,  we  would  ask  certain 
questions  of  thee ;  "  and  Jesus  answered, 
"  Ask,  and  it  shall  be  answered  unto  thee." 

Thou  must  know  that  among  us  Jews 
there  be  two  chief  schools  of  thought,  or 
rather  thou  mightest  say,  parties  of  the 
State.  The  one  holds  with  the  High 
Priest  and  the  rulers,  and  is  mainly  made 
up  of  those  whom  ye  Hellenes  call  the 
Best,  and  their  retainers.  These  be  known 
as  the  Sadducees,  for  their  leaders  are 
mainly  of  the  family  of  the  High  Priest 
Sadduk.  Now,  the  other  party  is  in  some 
sort  the  party  of  the  Demos,  in  that  they 
seek  to  lessen  the  power  of  the  High 
Priests  and  their  families.  But  with  us, 
as  thou  knowest,  all  things  turn  upon  reli- 


78  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

gion,  and  this  second  party  differ  chiefly 
from  the  Sadducees,  for  that  they  are  more 
in  earnest  with  the  matters  of  the  Law, 
and  chiefly  they  fear  the  influence  of  thy 
nation,  Aglaophonos,  in  drawing  the  Isra- 
elite away  from  the  Law.  Therefore  have 
they  increased  precept  upon  precept,  so  as 
to  make,  as  they  say,  a  fence  round  the 
Law.  And  as  they  would  separate  them- 
selves from  the  heathen  by  this  fence,  they 
call  themselves  Pharisees,  that  is,  Separa- 
tists. 

Now,  it  was  nowise  easy  to  learn  whether 
a  man  was  of  the  one  party  or  the  other. 
For  he  might  be  eager  for  the  Law,  and  so 
be  Pharisaic  in  color,  and  yet  approve  of 
the  dominion  of  the  priests,  and  thus  be 
a  Sadducee.  Yet  in  one  chief  matter  of 
thought  they  went  asunder  contrariwise, 
and  that  was  concerning  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead.  Now,  with  regard  to  that, 
the  Sadducees  held  that  naught  was  said 
in  the  Law  of  Moses,  and  therefore  no  son 
of  Israel  need  concern  himself  with  it.  But 
the  Pharisees,  on  the  other  hand,  laid  great 
weight  upon  this.  So  here  was  a  touch- 
stone by  which  to  learn  whether  this  Jesus 


THE   TESTINGS  IN  THE   TEMPLE.     79 

followed  the  one  or  the  other  of  the  two 
great  divisions  of  our  nation. 

Then,  as  was  agreed  upon,  Kamithos 
the  Sadducee  came  forward  to  ask  him  the 
question  which  should  determine  whether 
he  held  with  them  that  there  was  no  resur- 
rection from  the  dead,  or  with  the  rest  of 
the  nation.  He  said,  "  Rabbi,  it  is  written 
in  the  Torah,  if  brethren  dwell  together, 
and  one  of  them  die  and  have  no  son,  the 
wife  of  the  dead  one  shall  not  marry  with- 
out, unto  a  stranger ;  her  husband's  brother 
shall  take  her  to  him  to  wife,  and  raise 
up  seed  unto  his  brother.  Suppose,  now, 
there  are  seven  brethren,  and  the  first 
takes  a  wife,  and  dying  leaves  no  son ;  and 
the  second  takes  her,  as  is  our  custom,  and 
dies  without  leaving  any  seed  ;  and  the 
third  likewise,  and  so  on,  till  the  whole 
seven  had  married  her,  and  yet  had  no 
son ;  then  the  woman  dies  also :  when 
they  shall  rise  from  the  dead  together, 
whose  wife  shall  she  be  of  them  ?  for  all 
seven  had  her  to  wife."  And  Jesus  an- 
swered and  said,  "Ye  are  at  fault,  and 
know  not  the  Scriptures,  nor  the  power  of 
God ;  for  in  the  resurrection  they  neither 


80  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

marry,  nor  are  given  in  marriage,  but  are 
even  as  the  angels  which  are  in  heaven. 
And  as  an  indication  from  Scripture  that 
the  dead  rise,  is  it  not  written  in  the  book 
of  Moses,  when  God  spake  to  him  from 
the  bush,  saying,  '  I  am  the  God  of  Abra- 
ham, and  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God 
of  Jacob '  ?  He  is  not  the  God  of  the 
dead,  but  the  God  of  the  living :  therefore 
are  ye  in  error." 

And  we  were  surprised  at  the  subtlety 
of  the  man ;  and  chiefly  men  marvelled  at 
the  wisdom  of  this  man  in  finding  what 
we  call  a  support,  that  is,  a  text  of  Scrip- 
ture on  which  to  hang  the  doctrine  of  the 
life  after  death,  which  many  believe  to 
have  grown  up  among  us  since  the  sacred 
Scriptures  were  written :  for  in  them  little, 
if  anything,  was  said  of  the  world  to  come. 
Now,  Jesus  in  his  answer  had  happened 
upon  a  text  which  said  that  Abraham  and 
Isaac  and  Jacob  were  living  when  they 
were  dead  to  this  world,  and  the  people 
marvelled  greatly  thereat. 

Now,  it  had  been  agreed  upon,  that 
after  the  Sadducees  had  asked  their  ques- 
tion and  been  answered,  I  should  stand 


THE   TESTINGS  IN  THE    TEMPLE.     8 1 

forth  and  test  this  man  Jesus  on  behalf  of 
the  Pharisees.  Now,  one  of  our  Sages 
hath  said,  "  Be  as  careful  of  a  little  pre- 
cept as  of  a  great  one ;  "  whereas  our  great 
master  Hillel  had,  as  I  have  told  thee, 
summed  up  the  whole  Law  in  one  precept, 
"  Love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  There- 
fore, we  of  the  Pharisees  wished  to  know 
whether  this  Jesus  agreed  with  the  one 
sage  or  the  other;  so  I  spake  unto  him 
and  said,  "  Rabbi,  which  is  the  first  com- 
mandment, by  doing  which  I  shall  inherit 
the  life  everlasting  ? "  But  at  first  he  an- 
swered me  not  directly,  but  said,  "  How 
readest  thou  ?  "  Then  I  remembered  me 
the  words  of  the  "  Catechism  of  the  Two 
Ways,"  and  answered,  "  Thou  shalt  love 
the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  strength,  and  with  all  thy 
mind,  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself:  what- 
soever thou  wouldest  not  for  thyself,  do 
not  to  another."  And  he  said  unto  me, 
"  Thou  hast  answered  right ;  and  the  first 
of  the  commandments  is  the  Shema : 
'  Hear,  O  Israel ;  the  Lord  thy  God  is 
one  God.'  And  the  second  is  like,  namely 
this :  '  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as 


82  AS  OTHERS  SA  W  HIM. 

thyself.'  There  is  none  other  command- 
ment greater  than  these.  This  do,  and 
thou  shalt  live."  Then  I  was  rejoiced, 
and  said  unto  him,  "  Well,  Rabbi,  thou 
hast  said  the  truth :  there  is  one  God,  and 
there  is  none  other  but  him ;  and  to  love 
him  with  all  the  heart,  and  with  all  the 
understanding,  and  with  all  the  soul,  and 
all  the  strength,  and  to  love  one's  neighbor 
as  one's  self,  is  more  than  all  the  burnt 
offerings  and  sacrifices."  Then  Jesus  be- 
came gracious  unto  me,  and  said,  "  Thou 
art  not  far  from  the  kingdom  of  God." 

But  then  I  would  learn  further  from  this 
man  who  spake  so  well,  and  ask  him  the 
question  which  is  current  in  our  schools 
on  this  subject,  and  I  said  to  him,  "  But, 
Rabbi,  who  is  my  neighbor  ? "  and  he 
answered  with  a  mashal,  or  parable,  and 
said,  "  To  what  is  the  matter  like  ?  A 
certain  man  was  going  down  from  Jeru- 
salem to  Jericho  ;  and  he  fell  among  rob- 
bers, which  both  stripped  him  and  beat 
him,  and  departed,  leaving  him  half  dead. 
And  by  chance  a  certain  priest  was  going 
down  that  way :  and  when  he  saw  him,  he 
passed  by  on  the  other  side.  And  in  like 


THE    TESTINGS  IN  THE    TEMPLE.      83 

manner  a  Levite  also,  when  he  came  to 
the  place,  and  saw  him,  passed  by  on  the 
other  side.  But  a  certain  Israelite,1  as 
he  journeyed,  came  where  he  was :  and 
when  he  saw  him,  he  was  moved  with 
compassion,  and  came  to  him,  and  bound 
up  his  wounds,  pouring  on  them  oil  and 
wine ;  and  he  set  him  on  his  own  beast, 
and  brought  him  to  an  inn,  and  took  care 
of  him.  And  on  the  morrow  he  took  out 
two  pence,  and  gave  them  to  the  host,  and 
said,  '  Take  care  of  him ;  and  whatsoever 
thou  spendest  more,  I,  when  I  come  back 
again,  will  repay  thee.'  Which  of  these 
three,  thinkest  thou,  proved  neighbor  unto 
him  that  fell  among  the  robbers  ?  "  Then 
I  said,  "  Not  the  priest,  nor  the  Levite, 
though  they  held  office  in  Israel,  but  the 
simple  Israelite  who  showed  mercy  upon 
him."  Then  Jesus  said  unto  me, "  Go  and 
do  thou  likewise;"  and  at  this  moment  we 
were  all  summoned  to  the  mid-day  sacri- 
fice in  the  Temple. 

When  Jesus  had  departed,  after  the  sac- 
rifice, we  all  met  together  and  discussed 
his  answers,  which  had  stamped  him  in 

1  The  gospel  version  reads  "  Samaritan."  —  ED. 


84  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

our  minds  as  a  master  in  the  art  of  ques- 
tion and  answer,  which  is  with  us  as  favor- 
able a  trial  of  skill  as  oratory  or  poetry 
with  you  Hellenes.  Now,  as  regards  the 
question  of  the  Sadducees,  men  thought 
he  had  spoken  more  openly ;  for  though 
he  had  evaded  a  direct  answer  to  the 
question  of  the  seven  brothers  and  their 
wife,  he  had  yet  implied  that  they  all 
would  have  a  part  in  the  life  to  come. 
Some  regretted  that  the  question  had  not 
been  put  differently,  and  the  problem  set 
—  if  a  son  had  been  born  through  the 
seventh  brother :  for  this  might  have 
thrown  light  upon  the  question  of  the 
schools,  whether  the  brother's  widow  was 
to  be  still  regarded  as  his  wife  if  seed  had 
been  raised  to  him  after  his  death.  But 
as  to  the  support  which  Jesus  had  taken 
from  Scripture  for  the  life  everlasting, 
though  here  again  he  had  answered  ques- 
tion by  question,  it  was  decided  that  he 
was  against  the  Sadducees  on  this  point. 

But  on  the  questions  which  I  had  put 
to  him,  all  had  agreed  that  he  had  an- 
swered as  a  Pharisee,  even  as  Hillel  might 
have  answered,  for  he  had  yea-said  the 


THE    TESTINGS  IN  THE   TEMPLE.     85 

doctrine  which  I  had  cited  from  the  be- 
ginning of  "  The  Two  Ways  "  in  which  the 
doctrine  of  Hillel  is  summed  up ;  and  even 
as  to  my  further  question,  as  to  who  is  the 
c/iader,  or  neighbor,  though  opinions  were 
divided,  most  thought  that  he  had  spoken 
as  a  Pharisee  might  have  spoken :  for 
thou  knowest,  Aglaophonos,  that  our  na- 
tion is  divided  into  three  great  classes  — 
the  Cohanim,  or  Priests ;  the  Levites ; 
and  the  common  Israelites.  Now,  of  these, 
the  two  former  are  the  officials  of  the 
Temple,  and  most  if  not  all  of  the  Sad- 
ducees  are  from  this  class.  And,  in  de- 
claring himself  on  the  side  of  the  third 
class  of  simple  Israelites,  Jesus  had,  we  all 
thought,  declared  himself  on  the  side  of 
the  Pharisees. 


VII. 

THE  SECOND   SERMON. 


VII. 

I  CANNOT  clearly  remember  at  what 
season  of  the  year  it  was  that  I  next  saw 
Jesus ;  indeed,  I  am  surprised  to  think 
that,  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  five-and- 
twenty  years,  I  can  still  remember  almost 
all  that  passed  on  the  various  occasions 
when  I  was  in  his  presence.  Yet  I  think 
it  was  about  the  time  of  the  feast  which 
we  hold  in  memory  of  the  rededication  of 
the  Temple  under  the  Maccabaeans  that 
I  again  saw  and  heard  the  Galilaean  stran- 
ger; for  I  mind  me  that  I  had  just  been 
taking  the  eight-branch  candlestick  which 
we  use  in  the  ceremonials  of  this  feast  to 
Petachayah  the  silversmith  to  be  mended, 
when  on  my  return  I  saw  a  throng  col- 
lected round  the  synagogue  of  the  Galilae- 
ans,  and  entering  in,  found  that  Jesus  was 
to  preach  that  day.  The  same  ceremonial 
was  gone  through  as  I  have  already  de- 
scribed to  thee :  the  Law  was  taken  from 
the  ark  with  rejoicing ;  priest  and  Levite 


90  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

and  four  ordinary  Israelites  were  sum- 
moned to  hear  it  read,  and  again  the 
crier  called,  "Let  Rabbi  Joshua,  the  son 
of  Rabbi  Joseph,  arise."  Now,  it  chanced 
that  this  time,  I,  as  a  member  of  the  San- 
hedrim, was  summoned  to  the  reading  of 
the  Law  immediately  after  Jesus,  and  for  a 
time,  as  is  customary,  we  stood  together 
upon  the  bema.  I  observed  that,  as  the 
reading  of  the  Law  proceeded,  the  eyes  of 
the  Nazarene  became  fixed  upon  the  ark, 
and  a  veil  of  mysterious  tenderness  seemed 
to  come  over  them,  as  if  he  were  in  com- 
munion with  the  Skechinaki  or  Glory,  it- 
self. It  seemed  to  me  that  afterwards, 
when  he  read  the  Haphtara  from  the  pro- 
phets, and  when  he  preached,  something 
remained  in  him  of  this  mystical  com- 
munion. 

Perhaps  it  was  for  this  that  we  seemed 
to  miss  that  sense  of  individual  address 
which  we  had  before  observed  in  his  eyes. 
No  longer  did  these  speak  to  us  other  and 
deeper  thoughts  than  the  words  of  the 
preacher  ;  they  seemed  to  dream  of  divine 
things,  and  so  caused  us  also  to  be  rapt 
in  mystic  musings.  I  cannot  on  this  ac- 


THE  SECOND   SERMON.  9 1 

count  recall  for  you  all  or  even  many  of 
the  words  which  he  uttered  on  this  occa- 
sion. He  began  with  some  plain  teaching 
about  practice.  Soon  he  went  on  to  speak 
of  himself  in  a  marvellous  way,  as  if  he 
would  imply  that  communion  with  him 
and  with  the  Most  High  were  one  and  the 
same,  and  then  in  his  last  words  he  seemed 
to  speak  of  the  Last  Things.  And  here 
again  his  words  seemed  as  if  he  identified 
himself  with  the  great  Judge. 

Now,  this  is  not  so  strange  to  our  mode 
of  thinking  in  Israel  as  thou  mightest 
think.  Almost  all  our  prophets  speak  the 
oracles  of  God  as  if  they  were  using  the 
very  words  of  the  Lord.  Thou  canst  read 
in  the  Greek  translation  of  the  Seventy 
many  passages  of  the  prophets  in  which 
the  very  words  of  the  Lord  are  given. 
Yet  in  most,  if  not  all,  cases  the  prophet 
beginneth,  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord,"  or  end- 
eth,  "  This  is  the  word  of  the  Lord."  But 
with  this  Jesus  it  was  otherwise.  He 
spoke  as  the  ancient  prophets  do,  but 
whether  from  his  rapt  intentness  in  the 
message  he  was  delivering,  or  because  he 
felt  his  spirit  for  the  time  merged  in  the 


92  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

divine,  he  spoke  as  if  the  message  was  his. 
And  as  he  spoke,  I  saw  looks  of  amaze- 
ment pass  between  many  in  the  syna- 
gogue, and  one  old  graybeard  rose  as  if  to 
protest,  and  then,  shaking  his  withered 
hands  above  his  head,  went  out  of  the 
synagogue. 

I  will  here  set  down  for  thee  as  many  of 
the  words  that  fell  from  Jesus'  lips  on  this 
occasion  as  I  can  remember.  They  are 
but  few,  but  many  of  them  are  weighty, 
and  I  have  told  thee  above  the  general 
lines  of  thought  which  seemed  to  run 
through  his  discourse ;  and  these  are  the 
words  as  far  as  I  remember  them.1 

"  Cultivate  faith  and  hope,  through 
which  is  born  that  love  of  God  and  man 
which  gives  the  eternal  life.  Those  are 
the  sons  of  God  who  walk  in  the  spirit  of 
God.  What  you  preach  before  the  folk, 
do  in  deed  before  every  one.  Accept  not 
anything  from  any  man,  and  possess  not 
anything  in  this  world.  For  the  Father 
wisheth  to  be  given  to  each  man  from  his 
own  gifts.  Cleave  unto  the  saints:  for 

1  See  note  on  p.  42.  —  ED. 


THE  SECOND  SERMON.  93 

they  that  cleave  unto  them  shall  be  sancti- 
fied. Yet  shall  there  be  schisms  and  here- 
sies: for  there  is  a  shame  which  leadeth 
to  death,  as  there  is  a  shame  which  lead- 
eth to  life.  Is  it  not  enough  for  the  disci- 
ples to  be  as  the  Master?  If  in  a  little 
you  are  not  faithful,  who  shall  give  unto 
you  what  is  much  ?  Seek  the  great,  and 
the  little  will  be  added  to  you;  seek  the 
heavenly,  and  the  things  of  earth  will  be 
superadded. 

"  He  that  wonders  shall  reign,  he  who 
reigns  shall  find  rest.  My  secret  is  for 
me,  and  for  those  that  are  mine  are  the 
things  which  eye  saw  not,  and  ear  heard 
not,  which  entered  not  into  the  heart  of 
man,  whatsoever  things  God  prepared  for 
them  that  love  him.  Those  who  wish  to 
see  me,  and  wish  to  cling  to  the  kingdom, 
must  take  me  through  affliction  and  suf- 
fering. For  he  that  is  near  me  is  near  the 
fire,  he  that  is  far  from  me  is  far  from  the 
kingdom.  Where  one  is,  there  too  am  I ; 
where  twain  are,  there  too  will  I  be.  As 
any  of  you  sees  himself  in  the  water  or  in 
the  mirror,  so  let  him  see  me  in  himself. 

"  They  that   love  me   shall  receive  the 


94  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

crown.  I  will  choose  me  the  good,  those 
good  whom  my  Father  in  the  heavens 
hath  given  me.  Let  the  lawless  continue 
in  lawlessness,  the  just  be  justified.  Be- 
hold, I  make  the  last  as  the  first,  and  all 
things  new.  In  whatsoever  state  I  find 
you,  in  that  also  will  I  judge  you." 

Never  heard  I  any  who  spoke  of  himself 
as  this  man  did.  For  days  and  days  after- 
wards some  of  his  words  came  to  me  again 
and  again.  Whenever  I  was  alone  I 
seemed  to  hear  his  voice  saying,  "  Where 
one  is,  there  too  am  I ;  where  twain  are, 
there  too  will  I  be."  Whenever  I  gazed 
on  the  running  stream  or  looked  on  the 
polished  steel  of  the  mirror,  again  I  seemed 
to  hear  him  say,  "As  any  of  you  sees  him- 
self in  the  water  or  in  the  mirror,  so  let 
him  see  me  in  himself."  And,  in  truth,  at 
times  my  features  seemed  to  fade  away, 
and  the  face  of  Jesus  gaze  upon  me. 

Others  thought  not  as  I.  When  we 
assembled  after  the  sermon,  to  talk  over  it, 
as  is  our  custom,  I  found  that  most  had 
been  chiefly  touched  by  certain  sayings  at 
the  end  of  the  sermon,  in  which  Jesus 


THE  SECOND  SERMON.  9$ 

seemed  to  speak  of  the  future  life  and  the 
last  judgment.  Thou  knowest,  Aglao- 
phonos,  that  with  regard  to  these  matters 
I  incline  more  to  the  teaching  of  the  Sad- 
ducean  sect,  who  hold  that  Holy  Scrip- 
ture speaketh  not  of  these  things,  and 
that,  therefore,  we  need  not  and  should 
not  think  thereon.  But  there  were  few 
who  held  that  doctrine  in  the  synagogue 
that  day,  and  these  thought  most  of  the 
words  in  which  Jesus  seemed  to  claim  the 
prerogatives  of  the  Divine  Judge.  "  I  was 
amazed,"  quoth  Serachyah  ben  Pinchas, 
"when  he  spoke  of  judging  us  himself  in 
the  last  days :  it  wanted  but  a  little  that  I 
had  rent  my  garments  at  the  blasphemy. 
But  surely,  thought  I  to  myself,  the  man 
will  shortly  tell  us,  '  These  are  the  words 
of  the  Lord,'  and  so  I  refrained." 

Now  I  will  tell  thee  of  a  most  strange 
event  that  happened  with  me  and  this 
Jesus.  A  day  or  two  after  this,  I  was 
sitting  in  my  room  and  studying  the 
words  of  Torah,  and  had  fallen  into  deep 
thought  on  the  things  of  this  life  and  the 
next,  and  gradually  I  fell  thinking  of  cer- 
tain words  that  I  had  heard  from  Jesus 


96  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

the  Nazarene,  as  I  have  before  told  you. 
Hast  thou  ever  felt,  Aglaophonos,  as  if 
some  one  was  gazing  upon  thee,  and  thou 
couldst  not  refrain  from  looking  round  to 
see  who  it  was  ?  So  I  felt  at  this  moment, 
and  I  looked  up  from  the  sacred  scroll,  and 
lo !  Jesus  the  Nazarene  stood  before  me, 
gazing  upon  me  with  those  piercing  eyes 
I  can  never  forget.  His  face  was  pale 
and  indistinct,  but  the  eyes  shone  forth 
as  if  with  tenderness  and  pity.  Then  he 
seemed  to  lean  forward,  and  spoke  to  me 
in  a  low  yet  piercing  voice  these  words: 
"  Awake  thou  that  sleepest,  and  arise  from 
the  dead,  and  the  Christ  shall  shine  upon 
thee."  I  had  shrunk  back  from  his  gaze, 
and  was,  indeed,  in  all  amaze  and  wonder 
that  he  should  be  in  the  room  ;  but  when  I 
looked  again,  behold,  he  was  gone,  there 
was  no  man  there. 

But  this  is  not  all  the  wonder  of  that 
event,  for,  being  startled,  and,  indeed, 
somewhat  fearful  at  his  sudden  appear- 
ance and  disappearance,  I  arose  and  went 
out  into  the  highway,  and  went  out  to 
walk  on  the  Gethsemane  road.  Now,  as  I 
came  clear  of  the  city,  I  saw  a  group  of 


THE  SECOND  SERMON.  9/ 

men  coming  down  the  opposite  hill,  and 
when  they  came  near,  behold,  it  was  Jesus 
and  some  of  his  friends.  I  was  astonished 
and  surprised  beyond  all  measure,  for  how 
could  Jesus  have  just  been  with  me,  and 
be  now  coming  from  Gethsemane  ?  And 
when  they  were  passing  me,  Jesus  glanced 
at  me  very  slightly,  as  at  a  stranger  —  he 
that  had  spoken  to  my  soul  but  a  few 
minutes  since. 

Now,  after  they  had  passed  me,  there 
came  one  running  after  them  whom  I  knew 
—  one  Meshullam  ben  Hanoch  —  and  I 
stopped  him  and  asked  him  whither  he 
was  going,  and  he  said,  "  Stay  me  not. 
I  have  run  all  the  way  from  Bethany  to 
catch  up  that  man  thou  seest  there,  Jesus 
the  Nazarene  ;  "  and  with  that  he  took  up 
his  running  and  left  me. 

I  knew  not  what  to  think.  I  had  seen 
and  heard  Jesus  in  my  own  house  in  Jeru- 
salem, and  lo !  at  that  very  same  time,  as 
I  now  learned,  he  had  been  at  Bethany. 
What  thinkest  thou,  Aglaophonos,  —  can 
a  man  be  in  two  places  at  one  and  the 
same  time  ?  or  can  it  be  that  the  mind  of 
man,  and  the  power  of  his  eye,  can  go 


98  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

forth  from  his  body  and  create  a  vision  of 
another  man  that  hath  all  the  semblance 
of  reality  ?  I  know  not  what  to  think ; 
but  I  have  heard  that,  even  after  his  death, 
those  who  were  nearest  and  dearest  to 
Jesus  saw  him  and  heard  him  even  as  I 
did.  Nor  do  I  wonder  at  this,  after  what 
has  occurred  to  myself. 


VIII. 

THE  REBUKING  OF  JESUS. 


VIII. 

Now,  it  chanced  that  about  this  time 
I  was  invited  to  a  feast  at  the  house  of 
Elisha  ben  Simeon,  one  of  the  leaders  of 
the  Pharisees  in  Jerusalem.  His  son  had 
become  thirteen  years  old  that  week,  and, 
as  is  our  custom,  was  received  into  the 
holy  congregation  as  a  Son  of  the  Cove- 
nant  on  the  Sabbath.  He  had  been  sum- 
moned up  to  the  reading  of  the  Law,  and 
had  himself  read  aloud  a  portion  of  it;  for 
from  this  day  onward  he  was  to  be  treated 
in  all  matters  of  religion  as  if  he  were  a 
man.  Being  a  friend  of  his  father,  I  had 
attended  his  synagogue,  and  heard  the 
lad's  pure  voice  for  the  first  time  in  his  life 
declare  publicly  his  faith  in  the  Most  High. 

After  the  service  in  the  synagogue,  his 
friends  accompanied  the  father  and  the  lad 
to  their  house,  and  with  them  went  I,  who 
had  known  the  father  from  our  schoolboy 
days,  and  the  little  lad  from  the  time  of  his 
birth. 


102  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

Now,  it  chanced  that,  as  we  came  near 
the  door  of  Elisha's  house,  we  met  Jesus  the 
Nazarene,  and  two  or  three  with  him.  So 
Elisha  greeted  them,  and  invited  them 
courteously  to  join  the  feast,  as  is  the  cus- 
tom among  us.  And  Jesus  and  the  others 
assented,  and  followed  into  the  house  with 
us.  "  To  table,  to  table !  "  cried  Elisha, 
pointing  to  the  couches  standing  round 
the  well-filled  board. 

When  we  were  all  seated,  the  host  and 
his  son  came  round  with  an  ewer  and  basin 
to  perform  the  washing  of  the  hands  pre- 
scribed by  the  Law.  But  when  they  came 
to  the  Galilaean  strangers,  these  refused, 
saying,  "  We  wash  not  before  meals." 

"  Then  we  must  serve  ye  last,"  said 
Elisha,  with  a  smile.  But  the  others  took 
not  the  matter  so  pleasantly  ;  for  since  we 
have  one  common  dish,  which  is  handed 
round  to  the  guests  for  them  to  take  their 
food  with  their  fingers,  it  is  considered 
gross  ill-breeding  for  a  man  not  to  perform 
the  ceremony  of  washing  before  meals. 

Then  Elisha  took  a  seat  at  the  centre 
of  the  table,  and  said  the  grace  before 
meals.  Then  he  broke  bread,  and,  dip- 


THE  REBUKING   OF  JESUS.  103 

ping  a  morsel  into  salt  for  each  of  the 
guests,  he  called  his  son  to  him  to  carry 
it  round.  When  he  saw  that  each  of  the 
guests  had  a  piece  of  bread  dipped  in  salt, 
Elisha  recited  the  blessing  on  the  bread, 
"  Blessed  art  Thou,  O  Lord  our  God,  who 
bringest  forth  bread  from  the  earth,"  and 
all  said  "  Amen."  And  one  of  the  guests 
said  to  Elisha,  "  I  am  glad  we  are  not  in 
Babylon." 

"  How  so,  Phineas  ?  "  said  Elisha  to  the 
man,  who  was  well  known  at  all  feasts  at 
that  time  in  Jerusalem. 

And  Phineas  said,  "  For  there  they  only 
eat  bread  with  their  bread." 

"  Nay,  that  would  not  suit  thee,  Phineas. 
Thou  art  no  Nazarite ; "  and  most  of  the 
guests  who  knew  him  laughed. 

Then  Elisha  clapped  his  hands,  and  the 
slaves  took  round  the  first  course  of  salted 
fish ;  then  afterwards  the  cold  baked  meats 
—  for,  being  the  Sabbath,  the  food  had 
been  prepared  the  day  before. 

Then  one  of  the  guests  said  to  one  of 
the  Galilaeans,  "  Is  it  true  that  you  allow 
fowl  to  be  boiled  in  milk  in  your  country  ? " 

"  Yes,  truly ;  why  not  ?  "  said  the  Gali- 
laean. 


104  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

"  Is  it  not  written  thrice  in  the  Law," 
said  the  guest,  " '  Thou  shalt  not  seethe 
the  kid  in  its  mother's  milk '  ?  " 

"  In  our  country,"  said  the  Galilaean, 
"fowls  give  no  milk."  And  we  all  of  us 
laughed,  save  only  Jesus. 

"  Nay,  but  the  Sages  have  carried  their 
prohibition  even  unto  fowls,  lest  the  peo- 
ple be  led  to  confuse  flesh  and  flesh." 

By  this  time  we  had  arrived  at  the  third 
and  last  course  of  salted  olives,  lettuces, 
and  radishes.  And  again  the  bowl  and 
ewer  were  passed  round,  and  this  time  the 
Galikeans  did  not  refuse  the  water.  Then 
the  new  son  of  the  covenant  recited  in  his 
clear  voice  the  grace  after  meals.  And  all 
rose,  while  the  slaves  removed  the  rem- 
nants. Then  said  Elisha,  "  It  is  not  well 
that  when  so  many  are  together  we  should 
depart  without  discussing  some  words  of 
the  Law.  My  little  Lazarus  here  would 
fain  learn  some  new  thing  from  the  many 
learned  men  present  on  this  day  of  his 
being  received  into  Israel." 

"  Well,  then,"  said  one  of  the  company, 
"  I  should  like  to  put  a  question  to  our 
friends  here  from  Galilee."  And  they 
said,  "  Speak,  Rabbi." 


THE  REBUKING   OF  JESUS.  105 

And  he  addressed  himself  to  Jesus,  and 
said,  "  Why  walk  not  thy  disciples  accord- 
ing to  the  tradition  of  the  elders,  but  eat 
bread  with  unwashen  hands  ?  " 

Then  Jesus  spoke  out,  and  as  he  spoke 
he  strode  up  and  down  the  room,  with  his 
hand  clutching  the  air,  and  the  vein  throb- 
bing on  his  left  temple.  "  Well  hath 
Esaias  prophesied  of  you  hypocrites,  as  it 
is  written,  '  This  people  honoreth  me  with 
their  lips,  but  their  heart  is  far  from  me. 
Howbeit  in  vain  do  they  worship  me, 
teaching  for  doctrines  the  commandments 
of  men. ' '  Then  facing  us  all,  he  added, 
"  For  ye  lay  aside  the  commandment  of 
God,  and  hold  the  tradition  of  men." 

"  How  so,  master  ? "  said  Elisha ;  "  prove 
thy  words." 

"  It  is  said  in  the  Word  of  God,  '  Honor 
thy  father  and  thy  mother,'  and  yet  the 
Sages  say,  '  If  a  man  be  asked  by  his  fa- 
ther or  mother  to  honor  them  with  a  gift, 
and  he  say,  "  I  vow  that  thing  to  the  Al- 
mighty," then  it  is  Corban]  and  put  aside 
for  the  Lord,  so  that  his  parents  cannot 
enjoy  thereof.  Thus  by  your  tradition 
about  vows  ye  make  the  Word  of  God 


106  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

concerning  honor  to  parents  of  none  ef- 
fect, and  many  like  things  ye  do." 

Then  Elisha  said,  "  But  the  Sages  are 
by  no  means  at  one  in  that  matter  of  the 
vows,  and  in  particular  many  of  them  de- 
clare all  the  vows  annulled  that  would 
work  against  our  duty  to  our  parents,  or 
even  against  our  love  to  our  neighbor. 
Yet,  even  if  we  take  the  more  stricter  tra- 
dition, in  what  manner  that  absolves  us 
from  washing  our  hands  before  meals,  I 
see  not." 

"  Nay,  it  is  the  same  thing,"  replied 
Jesus.  "  Ye  Pharisees  make  clean  the 
outside  of  the  cup  and  platter,  but  your 
inward  thoughts  are  full  of  ravening  and 
wickedness.  Ye  fools !  did  not  the  Holy 
One,  blessed  be  He,  who  made  that  which 
is  without,  make  also  that  which  is  within  ? 
Therefore  give  for  alms  that  which  is 
within,  kindly  thoughts  and  friendly  feel- 
ings. If  ye  do  that,  all  things  are  clean 
unto  you." 

Then  I  said  unto  Jesus,  for  this  matter 
touched  us  scribes  nearly,  "  Master,  in 
speaking  thus  against  tradition  thou  re- 
proachest  us  also  that  be  scribes." 


THE  REBUKING  OF  JESUS.  107 

And  he  answered,  "  Woe,  woe  unto  ye, 
scribes !  which  desire  to  walk  in  long 
robes,  and  love  greetings  in  the  markets, 
and  the  higher  seats  in  the  synagogues, 
and  the  chief  places  at  feasts,  which  de- 
vour widows'  houses,  and  for  a  show  make 
long  prayers." 

Then  an  angry  murmur  rose  among  all 
the  folk  there  assembled  at  the  harsh 
words  of  the  stranger,  when  suddenly  was 
heard  the  voice  of  Simeon  ben  Lazarus, 
the  father  of  Elisha,  a  very  old  man,  who 
sat  in  the  corner  and  said :  — 

"  Young  man,  fourscore  years  and  two 
have  I  lived  upon  this  earth ;  a  Pharisee 
have  I  been  from  the  day  I  became  a  son 
of  the  covenant,  like  little  Lazarus  there ;  a 
scribe  was  I  during  all  the  working  days  of 
my  life.  I  did  what  the  Law  and  the  Sages 
command,  yet  never  thought  I  in  so  doing 
of  men's  thoughts  or  praises.  Surely,  if 
the  Lord  command,  a  good  Jew  will  obey. 
And  as  in  many  things,  many  acts  of  this 
life,  the  Law  speaketh  not  in  plain  terms, 
surely  we  should  follow  the  opinion  of 
those  who  devote  all  their  life  to  the  study 
of  the  Law. 


108  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

"  I  have  never  sought  the  praises  of 
men,  their  greetings  or  their  honors,  in 
obeying  the  Law.  In  all  that  I  have  done 
I  have  sought  one  thing  —  to  fulfil  the 
will  of  our  Father  which  is  in  heaven. 

"  As  for  what  thou  sayest,  that  inward 
thought  and  outward  act  should  go  to- 
gether in  the  service  of  God  and  man,  that 
is  a  verity,  and  often  have  I  heard  the  say- 
ing  from  the  great  Hillel  —  may  his  mem- 
ory be  for  a  blessing !  But  if  outward  act 
may  be  clean  when  inward  thought  may 
be  unclean,  how,  on  the  other  hand,  can 
we  know  the  purity  of  what  is  within, 
except  it  be  decided  by  the  cleanliness  of 
what  is  without?  How,  above  all,  shall 
we  teach  our  little  ones,  like  my  Lazarus 
there,  to  feel  what  is  good  and  seemly, 
except  by  first  teaching  them  to  do  the 
acts  that  are  seemly  and  good  ? 

"  And  as  for  what  thou  sayest  as  to  the 
hypocrisy  of  us  Pharisees  and  scribes,  I 
say  unto  thee,  —  and  in  a  few  days  I  must 
see  the  face  of  my  Maker,  —  I  say  unto 
thee,  I  have  known  many  an  Ebionite, 
which  thou  seemest  to  be,  who  was  well 
spoken  within,  but  ill  doing  without.  So, 


THE  REBUKING   OF  JESUS.  IOQ 

too,  I  have  known  many  a  scribe  and 
many  a  Pharisee  who  neither  carried  their 
good  deeds  on  their  shoulders,  nor  said, 
'  Wait,  I  have  to  finish  some  godly  deed  ; ' 
nor  set  off  their  good  deeds  against  their 
sins ;  nor  boasted  of  their  sacrifices  for 
godly  works ;  nor  did  they  seek  out  their 
sins  that  they  might  pay  for  them  by  their 
virtues  ;  nor  were  they  Pharisees  from  fear 
of  the  Divine  punishment.  They  were 
Pharisees  from  love  of  the  Lord,  and  did 
throughout  their  life  what  they  knew  to 
be  his  commands." 

But  Jesus  spoke  gently  unto  the  old 
man,  and  said  naught  but,  "  Nay,  master,  I 
spoke  not  of  thee,  nor  of  men  like  thee. 
These  be  the  true  Pharisees ;  the  rest  but 
have  the  Pharisaic  color." 

"  That  is  so,"  said  old  Simeon.  "  I 
have  heard  what  King  Jannaus  said : 
'  Fear  not  the  Pharisees,  nor  those  who 
are  no  Pharisees ;  but  fear  the  colored 
ones,  who  are  only  Pharisees  in  appear- 
ance, who  do  the  deeds  of  Zimri  and  de- 
mand the  rewards  of  Phineas.' " 

But  before  the  old  man  could  finish 
there  was  a  movement  at  the  doorway, 


1 10  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

and  a  high,  thin  voice  cried  out,  "  Where 
is  this  kidnapper  of  souls?  where  is  this 
vfilcher  of  young  lives  ?  where  is  Jesus  the 
Nazarene  ? " 

"  Behold  me,"  said  Jesus,  turning  to- 
wards the  voice ;  and  an  old  man,  with  the 
rent  garment  of  the  mourner,  and  with 
hair  all  distraught,  came  up  to  the  Naza- 
rene with  arms  outstretched  and  clutching 
fingers. 

"  Give  me  my  son,  my  Elchanan  !  "  he 
cried.  "  Thou  hast  taken  him  from  me  last 
Passover,  saying,  '  Father  and  mother,  yea, 
all  that  a  man  hath,  shall  he  give  up  to 
follow  me.'  He  left  me  to  follow  thee; 
what  hast  thou  done  with  him  ?  —  my 
Elchanan !  my  Elchanan ! " 

"  He  died,  and  is  at  peace." 

"  Then  give  him  back  to  me  again. 
Thou  canst  do  all  things,  men  say  :  make 
whole  the  sick,  let  see  the  blind,  cause  the 
lame  to  walk,  and  give  peace  to  the 
troubled  mind.  Give  me,  then,  back  my 
Elchanan  thou  hast  taken  from  me." 

"  There  is  One  alone  that  can  quicken 
the  dead,"  said  Jesus,  and  walked  sternly 
past  him. 


IX. 

JESUS  IN  THE  TEMPLE. 


IX. 

BUT  a  few  days  after  what  I  have  nar- 
rated to  thee,  I  had  attended  a  full  meeting 
of  the  Sanhedrim  in  the  hall  of  hewn  stones 
in  the  Priests'  Court  of  the  Temple.  When 
the  session  was  over,  we  went  forth,  and, 
turning  to  the  right,  passed  into  the  Court 
of  the  Israelites,  and  so  through  Nicanor's 
Gate  into  the  Court  of  the  Women.  Now, 
as  we  went  down  the  fifteen  steps  that  lead 
into  this  court,  we  could  see,  through  the 
Beautiful  Gate  at  the  other  end  of  it,  that 
something  unusual  was  occurring  in  the 
outer  court  of  all,  the  Court  of  the  Gentiles. 
So  I  and  some  of  the  other  younger  mem- 
bers of  the  Sanhedrim  passed  rapidly 
through  the  Court  of  the  Women,  and, 
hurrying  through  the  Beautiful  Gate,  found 
Jesus  preaching  to  the  people  under  Sol- 
omon's Porch.  Now,  it  is  usual  for  the 
people  to  make  way  when  any  member  of 
the  Sanhedrim  passes  by ;  but  the  people 
were  so  engrossed  with  the  words  of  Jesus 


114  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

that  they  took  no  note  of  me  and  my  com- 
panions, and  we  had  to  stand  at  the  edge 
of  the  crowd  and  listen  as  best  we  might, 
and  so  great  was  the  crowd  that  I  could 
scarcely  hear  what  the  Nazarene  was  say- 
ing, until  gradually  those  near  us,  recogniz- 
ing the  marks  of  our  dignity,  made  way  for 
us  till  we  got  nearer. 

Never  saw  I  Jesus  in  so  exalted  a  state. 
Though  he  was  not  tall,  as  I  have  said,  he 
seemed  to  tower  above  the  crowd.  The 
mid-day  sun  of  winter  was  shining  full  upon 
the  Temple,  and  though  Jesus  was  in  the 
shadow  of  the  porch,  the  sunlight  from  the 
Temple  walls  shone  back  upon  his  eyes 
and  hair,  which  gleamed  with  the  glory  of 
the  sun.  He  looked  and  spake  as  a  king 
among  men.  And,  indeed,  he  was  claim- 
ing to  be  something  even  greater  than  a 
king.  I  could  not  hear  very  distinctly  from 
where  I  was  at  first,  but  towards  the  last, 
as  I  got  nearer,  I  heard  him  say  these 
words :  — 

"  Whosoever  committeth  sin  is  the  ser- 
vant of  sin.  Except  a  man  be  born  again, 
he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God.  He 


JESUS  IN  THE    TEMPLE.  115 

that  loveth  his  life  shall  lose  it.  If  a  man 
keep  my  word  he  shall  never  see  death, 
but  has  passed  from  death  unto  life.  He 
that  believeth  in  me,  the  works  that  I  do 
shall  he  do  also.  Yet  can  the  Son  do 
nothing  of  himself,  but  what  he  seeth  the 
Father  do.  I  am  the  door :  by  me,  if  any 
man  enter  in,  he  shall  be  saved.  I  am  the 
Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life.  I  am  the 
Light  of  the  world.  I  am  the  good  Shep- 
herd, and  know  my  sheep,  and  am  known 
of  mine.  I  am  the  Bread  of  Life :  he  that 
cometh  to  me  shall  never  hunger.  I  am 
the  true  Vine,  and  my  Father  is  the  Hus- 
bandman. I  am  the  Vine,  ye  are  the 
branches.  If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come 
unto  me  and  drink.  Before  Abraham  was 
I  am." 

Now,  as  Jesus  was  saying  these  words, 
and  many  like  unto  them,  his  form  seemed 
to  expand,  his  eye  flashed  with  the  light  of 
prophecy,  and  all  men  were  amazed  at  the 
power  of  his  words.  Never  had  they  heard 
man  speak  of  himself  with  such  confidence. 
If  he  had  been  very  God,  he  could  not  have 
said  more  of  his  own  power  over  men's 


Il6  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

souls.  Our  prophets  have  spoken  boldly 
indeed,  but  none  of  them  had  boasted  of 
the  power  of  the  Lord  in  such  terms  as  this 
man  spake  of  himself.  Could  he  be  mad, 
I  thought,  to  say  such  things  ?  Yet  in  all 
other  matters  he  had  shown  a  wisdom  and 
a  sound  sense  equal  to  the  greatest  of  our 
Sages.  Or  had  he  found  that  by  speaking 
thus  of  himself,  men,  and  above  all,  women, 
were  best  moved  to  believe  as  he  would 
have  them  believe,  to  act  as  he  would  have 
them  act  ?  Might  it  not  be  the  simplest 
of  truths  that  for  them,  to  them,  he  was 
indeed  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life  ? 

And,  indeed,  when  I  looked  around  and 
saw  the  effect  of  his  words  on  those  who 
were  listening,  I  could  in  part  understand 
his  power  among  men  and  women.  They 
drank  in  his  words  as  travellers  at  the  well 
of  the  oasis.  They  lived  upon  his  eyes, 
and  it  was  indeed  strange  to  see  every 
man's  body  bent  forward  as  of  a  straining 
hound  at  the  chase.  If  ever  men  wor- 
shipped a  man,  these  were  worshipping 
Jesus. 

And  I  ?  What  was  it  with  me  that  his 
words  failed  to  move  me  as  they  did  those 


JESUS  IN  THE   TEMPLE.  1 1/ 

around  me  ?  Why  did  his  eyes  rather  re- 
pel than  attract  me  ?  Was  it  thy  teach- 
ing, Aglaophonos,  that  had  taught  me  the 
way  of  thy  race :  to  measure  all  things  in 
the  balance  of  wisdom ;  to  be  moved  in 
all  acts  by  reason,  not  feeling?  Was  it 
from  thee  I  learnt  to  think  about  the 
causes  of  this  man's  influence,  even  while 
I  and  others  were  under  it?  Perhaps  not 
alone  ;  for  much  that  this  man  was  saying 
would  have  repelled  my  Jewish  instincts 
even  had  I  never  come  under  thy  influ- 
ence. What  struck  thee  among  us  Jews, 
I  remember,  was  that  while  we  see  the 
Deity  everywhere,  we  localize  him  no- 
where. Alone  among  the  nations  of  men 
we  refuse  to  make  an  image  of  our  God. 
We  alone  never  regarded  any  man  as  God 
Incarnate.  Those  among  us  who  have 
been  nearest  to  the  Divine  have  only 
claimed  to  be  —  they  have  only  been  rec- 
ognized to  be  —  messengers  of  the  Most 
High.  Yet  here  was  this  man,  as  it 
seemed,  claiming  to  be  the  Very  God, 
and  all  my  Jewish  feeling  rose  against  the 
claim. 

Nor  was  I  alone  in  this  feeling   I  was 


Il8  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

soon  to  learn.  Before  Jesus  had  finished 
his  harangue,  cries  arose  from  different 
quarters  of  the  crowd.  "Blasphemy!" 
"  Blasphemer !  "  "  He  blasphemes !  "  arose 
on  all  sides.  These  cries  awakened  men 
as  if  from  a  sleep,  all  turning  round  to 
see  whence  they  came.  And  the  very 
turning  round,  as  it  were,  removed  them 
from  the  influence  of  Jesus  and  his  eyes. 
In  a  moment,  many  of  those  who  just 
before  were  hanging  upon  Jesus'  words 
joined  in  the  cry,  "  Blasphemer !  blas- 
phemer ! "  One  of  the  boldest  of  those 
who  began  the  cry  called  out,  "  Blas- 
phemer !  Stone  him !  " 

But  Jesus  drew  himself  up,  and  looked 
upon  the  crowd  with  flashing  eyes,  and 
said,  "  O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem  !  Sodom  is 
justified  of  thee."  For  a  moment  all  were 
silent,  but  soon  the  cries  arose  again : 
"  Blasphemer!  blasphemer  !  Stone  him  !  " 

Then  began  great  commotion  among 
the  people.  While  some  called  out, 
"  Stone  him  !  "  "  Stone  him  !  "  others 
cried,  "  Sacrilege !  "  "  Sacrilege !  "  "  No 
stoning  in  the  Temple !  "  And  one  called 
out  with  a  jeer,  "  In  the  Temple  ye  cannot 


JESUS  IN  THE   TEMPLE.  119 

stone,  for  lo !  here  there  be  no  stones ;  " 
and  a  bitter,  scornful  laugh  followed  his 
words.  Then  some  who  were  nearest  to 
Jesus  sought  to  lay  hands  on  him,  while 
others,  his  friends,  stood  round  him  and 
prevented  their  approaching,  and  all  was 
confusion  and  tumult.  When  suddenly 
the  blare  of  a  trumpet  sounded  through 
the  courts,  and  all  cried,  "  The  Romans ! 
the  Romans !  " 

Then  round  by  the  royal  porch  came  a 
company  of  Roman  soldiers  to  change  the 
sentries  at  mid-day,  and  they  halted  near 
the  Beautiful  Gate.  And  as  they  came 
near  the  crowd  began  to  disperse,  and 
Jesus  and  his  friends  went  their  way  from 
the  courts  of  the  Temple. 

That  day,  there  was  no  talk  in  Jerusa- 
lem but  of  the  event  in  the  Temple.  Men 
marvelled  at  the  way  in  which  this  Jesus 
had  spoken  of  himself.  "  The  prophets 
spake  not  thus,"  they  said.  "  Yet  how 
can  a  man  be  greater  than  a  prophet,  who 
speaketh  the  words  of  the  Most  High? 
Even  if  we  had  once  more  a  king  over  us 
in  Israel,  he  could  not  be  as  great  as  a 
prophet,  and  no  king  would  speak  of  him- 


120  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

self  as  Jesus  this  day  hath  spoken  of  him- 
self." But  what  if  this  man  were  destined 
to  be  the  Christ,  the  God-given  Ruler  that 
should  restore  the  throne  of  David  ?  But 
how  could  that  be,  since  none  of  the  signs 
and  portents  of  the  last  times  had  come 
upon  the  earth  ?  Who  had  seen  the  blood 
trickle  from  the  rocks  ?  or  the  fiery  sword 
appear  in  the  midnight  sky  ?  Had  babes 
a  year  old  spoken  like  men?  But  others 
said,  "  Nay,  the  kingdom  of  God  will  not 
come  with  expectation.  As  it  hath  been 
said,  '  Three  things  come  unexpectedly  — 
a  scorpion,  a  treasure-trove,  and  the  Mes- 
siah.'" And  again,  others  said,  "Per- 
chance this  is  not  the  Messiah  ben  David, 
but  the  Messiah  ben  Joseph,  who  shall  be 
slain  before  the  other  cometh."  Thus  the 
minds  of  men  and  their  words  went  hither 
and  thither  about  the  sayings  of  this  man 
Jesus  in  the  Temple. 


X. 

THE  ENTRY  INTO  JERUSALEM. 


X. 


I  HEARD  naught  and  saw  naught  of  Jesus 
the  Nazarene  till  the  very  last  week  of  his 
life,  and  that  was  the  week  before  the  Pass- 
over. The  winter  had  been  a  severe  one, 
and  much  misery  had  arisen  among  the 
folk  through  the  exactions  of  the  Romans  ; 
indeed,  an  attempt  had  been  made  to  throw 
off  the  Roman  yoke.  In  several  places  the 
people  had  assembled  in  arms  and  attacked 
the  soldiery,  and  in  some  cases  had  slain 
their  sentries.  Pilate  had  but  sent  off  a 
cohort  into  the  district,  and  all  signs  of 
discontent  went  underground.  One  of  the 
leaders  of  the  revolt,  Jesus  Bar  Abbas,  had 
been  captured  and  thrown  into  prison. 
He,  indeed,  had  attempted  an  insurrection 
in  Jerusalem  itself,  where  he  was  well 
known  and  popular  among  the  common 
folk.  When  he  was  arrested,  a  riot  had 
occurred,  and  one  of  the  soldiers  was  slain 
who  had  been  sent  to  arrest  him  ;  where- 
fore he  lay  now  in  prison  on  the  charges  of 


124  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

rebellion  and  murder.  Yet  many  thought 
that  this  man  had  been  put  forth  to  try  the 
temper  of  the  people  and  the  power  of  the 
Romans,  in  preparation  for  a  more  serious 
attempt  to  shake  off  the  oppressor. 

Yet  who  should  lead  the  people  ?  Jo- 
chanan,  the  only  man  whom  of  recent  times 
the  people  followed  gladly,  had  been  done 
to  death  by  Herod.  One  man  alone  since 
his  death  had  won  the  people's  heart,  to 
wit,  Jesus  the  cousin  of  Jochanan.  He, 
and  he  alone,  could  lead  the  people  against 
the  Romans,  and  all  men  wondered  if  he 
would.  In  the  midst  of  their  wonder  came 
news  that  Jesus  the  Nazarene  was  coming 
up  to  the  Holy  City  for  the  Feast  of  Pass- 
over, the  feast  of  redemption  from  Egypt. 
Would  it  prove  this  year  a  feast  of  redemp- 
tion from  the  Romans  ?  All  hope  of  this 
depended  upon  this  Jesus. 

It  was  twenty-one  years  ago,  but  I  can 
remember  as  if  it  were  yesterday  the  excite- 
ment in  Jerusalem  when  the  news  came 
that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  had  arrived  in  the 
neighborhood,  and  was  spending  his  Sab- 
bath at  the  village  of  Bethany.  All  those 
who  were  disaffected  against  the  Romans 


THE   ENTRY  INTO  JERUSALEM,      12$ 

cried  out,  "A  leader!  a  leader!"  All  those 
who  were  halt,  sick,  or  blind,  cried  out, "  A 
healer!  a  healer!"  Wherever  we  went, 
there  was  no  talk  but  of  the  coming  deliv- 
erance. As  I  approached  one  group  of 
men  I  heard  them  say,  "  When  will  it  be  ? 
When  will  he  give  the  sign?  Will  it  be 
before  or  after  the  feast  ? "  "  Nay,"  said 
one  of  the  crowd,  a  burly  blacksmith  he, 
"  what  day  for  the  deliverance  but  the 
Passover  day  ?  But  be  it  when  it  may,  let 
him  give  the  sign,  and  I  shall  be  ready." 

"  And  prove  a  new  Maccabee,"  said  one 
in  the  crowd,  referring  to  his  hammer, 
whereat  a  grim  laugh  arose. 

The  next  day  being  the  first  of  the 
week,  which  the  Romans  call  the  Day  of 
the  Sun,  I  was  pondering  the  words  of  the 
Law  in  my  little  study  chamber  near  the 
roof  of  my  father's  house  in  the  Street  of 
the  Bakers  near  Herod's  Palace,  which  at 
that  time  was  inhabited  by  the  Procurator, 
when  suddenly  I  heard  the  patter  of  many 
feet  in  the  street  beneath  me,  and  looking 
out,  I  saw  them  all  hurrying,  as  it  seemed, 
to  the  Temple.  I  put  on  my  sandals,  and 
taking  my  staff  in  my  hand  and  drawing 


126  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

my  mantle  over  my  head,  hurried  out  after 
the  passers-by.  But  when  they  came  to 
the  Broad  Place  before  the  Water  Gate, 
they  turned  sharp  to  the  right,  and  went 
down  the  Tyropceon  as  far  as  the  Fountain 
Gate,  where  I  overtook  them.  There  I 
found  all  the  most  turbulent  of  the  city 
population.  Some  of  the  men  I  knew  had 
been  engaged  in  the  recent  riot  under 
Jesus  Bar  Abbas.  Others  were  the  leading 
Zealots  in  Jerusalem,  and  all  were  men 
eager  for  the  freeing  of  the  city  from  the 
Romans.  And  among  them,  too,  were 
others  who  cared  not  for  freedom,  nor 
hated  the  Romans,  but  would  only  be  too 
pleased  if  the  city  were  given  up  to  disor- 
der and  rapine.  While  these  waited  there, 
we  heard  cries  from  behind  us,  and  looking 
back,  saw  filing  out  from  the  Temple  courts 
on  to  the  Xystus  Bridge,  and  down  into 
the  Tyropceon,  the  brigade  of  beggars  who 
pass  almost  their  whole  life  in  the  Court  of 
the  Gentiles.  These  came  down  slowly, 
for  among  them  were  many  halt  and  some 
blind,  and  all  were  old  and  feeble  of  limb. 
"  Why  come  they  forth  from  the  courts  ?  " 
I  asked ;  "  and  why  are  we  waiting  ?  " 


THE  ENTRY  INTO  JERUSALEM.      I2/ 

Then  said  one  near  me,  "  Knowest  thou 
not  that  Jesus  the  Nazarene  enters  the 
city  to-day  ?  And  men  say  he  is  to  deliver 
us."  And  at  that  moment  a  cry  arose 
among  the  folk,  "  Lo  !  there  he  is."  Look- 
ing south,  for  a  time  I  could  see  nothing, 
for  the  mid-day  sun  of  the  spring  solstice/ 
was  shining  with  that  radiance  which  we 
Jews  think  is  only  to  be  seen  in  our  land. 
But  after  a  while  I  could  discern,  turning 
the  corner  of  the  Jericho  Road  near  En 
Rogel,  a  mounted  man,  surrounded  by  a 
number  of  men  and  women  on  foot.  "  It 
is  Jesus  —  it  is  Jesus !  "  all  cried ;  "  let  us 
to  meet  him !  "  And  with  that,  all  but  the 
lame  rushed  forward  to  meet  him,  and  I 
with  them. 

It  is  but  three  hundred  paces  from  the 
Fountain  Gate  to  En  Rogel,  and  the  Naza- 
rene and  his  friends  had  advanced  some- 
what to  meet  us,  but  in  that  short  space 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  crowd  had  arisen  to 
a  very  fever,  and  as  we  neared  him  one 
cried  out,  and  all  joined  in  the  cry,  "  Ho- 
sanna  Barabba !  Hosanna  Barabba !  "  and 
then  they  shouted  our  usual  cry  of  wel- 
come, "  Blessed  be  he  that  cometh  in  the 


128  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

name  of  the  Lord  ! "  and  one  bolder  than 
his  fellows  called  out,  "  Blessed  be  the  com- 
ing of  the  kingdom!"  At  that  there  was 
the  wildest  joy  among  the  people.  Some 
tore  off  branches  of  palms,  and  stood  by 
the  way  and  waved  them  in  front  of  Jesus ; 
others  took  off  each  his  fattth  and  threw  it  jl 
down  in  front  of  the  young  ass  on  which 
Jesus  rode,  as  if  to  pave  the  way  into  the 
Holy  City  with  choice  linen.  But  when  I 
looked  upon  the  face  of  Jesus,  there  were 
no  signs  there  of  the  coming  triumph ;  he 
sat  with  his  head  bent  forward,  his  eyes 
downcast,  and  his  face  all  sad.  And  a 
chill  somehow  came  over  me.  I  thought 
of  that  play  of  the  Greeks  which  thou 
gavest  me  to  read,  in  which  the  king  of 
men,  driving  to  his  own  palace  at  Argos, 
is  enticed  to  enter  it,  stepping  upon  soft 
carpets  like  an  idol  of  your  gods,  and  so 
incurs  the  divine  jealousy. 

As  we  approached  the  Fountain  Gate, 
the  beggars  from  the  Temple  had  come 
down  to  it,  and  joined  in  the  shouting 
and  the  welcome ;  and  one  of  them, 
Tobias  ben  Pinchas  by  name,  who  had, 
ever  since  men  had  known  him,  walked 


THE  ENTRY  INTO  JERUSALEM.      129 

with  a  crutch,  suddenly,  in  his  excitement, 
raised  his  crutch  and  waved  it  over  his 
head,  and  danced  before  Jesus,  crying, 
"  Hosanna  Barabba!  Hosanna  Barabba!" 
and  all  men  cried  out,  "  A  miracle,  a  mir- 
acle !  what  cannot  this  man  perform  ? " 
And  so,  with  a  crowd  surrounding  him, 
Jesus  entered  Jerusalem  and  went  up  into 
the  Temple.  But  I  that  year  had  been 
appointed  one  of  the  overseers  who  dis- 
tributed the  unleavened  bread  to  the  poor 
of  the  city  for  the  coming  Passover,  and 
I  had  then  to  attend  the  meeting  of  my 
fellow-overseers. 

That  night  there  was  no  talk  in  Jerusa- 
lem but  of  the  triumphant  entry  of  Jesus. 
The  city  was  crowded  by  Israelites  who 
had  come  up  to  the  capital  for  the  festival, 
and  a  whisper  went  about  that  many  of 
the  strangers  had  been  summoned  by 
Jesus  to  Jerusalem  to  help  in  the  com- 
ing revolt.  During  that  night,  wherever 
a  Roman  sentry  stood,  a  crowd  of  the 
unruly  would  collect  round  him  and  jeer 
at  him ;  and  in  one  place  the  sentry  had 
to  use  his  spear,  and  wounded  one  of  the 
crowd.  So  great  was  the  tumult  that, 


130  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HI  AT. 

when  the  sentries  were  changed  for  the 
midnight  watch,  a  whole  company  of  sol- 
diers accompanied  the  officer's  guard  and 
helped  to  clear  the  streets.  Meanwhile, 
where  was  Jesus?  And  what  was  he 
doing  in  the  midst  of  this  tumult  ?  I 
made  inquiry,  for  perchance  he  might 
have  been  holding  disputations  about  the 
Law,  as  is  the  custom  with  our  Sages;  but 
I  learnt  that  he  had  left  the  city  at  the 
eleventh  hour,  and  gone  back  to  the  vil- 
lage of  Bethany,  where  he  was  staying. 
But  I  was  thinking  through  all  that  even- 
ing of  the  strange  contrast  between  the 
triumphant  joy  of  his  followers  and  the 
saddened  countenance  of  the  Nazarene. 

Men  knew  not  what  was  to  become  of 
this  movement  in  favor  of  him.  Most  of 
the  lower  orders  were  hoping  for  a  rising 
against  the  Romans  to  be  led  by  this  Je- 
sus. Shrewder  ones  among  the  Better 
thought  that  the  man  was  about  to  initiate 
a  change  in  the  spiritual  government  of 
our  people.  Some  thought  he  would  de- 
pose the  Sadducees,  and  place  the  Phari- 
sees in  their  stead.  Others  feared  that 
he  would  carry  into  practice  the  ideals 


THE  ENTRY  INTO  JERUSALEM.      131 

of  the  Ebionim,  and  raise  the  Poor  against 
the  Rich.  Others  said,  "  Why  did  he  not 
enter  by  the  gate  of  the  Essenes,  for  he 
holdeth  with  them  ? "  All  knew  that  the 
coming  Passover  would  be  a  trying  time 
for  Israel,  owing  to  the  presence  of  the 
man  Jesus  in  Jerusalem,  and  the  manifest 
favor  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  com- 
mon folk.  But  amidst  all  this  I  could  see 
only  the  pale,  sad  face  of  Jesus. 


XI. 

THE  CLEANSING  OF  THE  TEMPLE 


XI. 

ON  the  morrow,  being  the  second  day 
of  the  week,  which  the  Romans  call  the 
Day  of  the  Moon,  Jesus  of  Nazara  came 
early  into  Jerusalem,  and  as  soon  as  it  was 
known  that  he  had  entered  the  city,  all 
those  that  had  gone  out  to  greet  him  on 
the  previous  day,  and  many  more  with 
them  who  had  heard  of  the  miracle  that 
he  had  performed,  went  to  meet  him  in 
the  Broad  Place.  And  near  upon  the 
time  of  the  mid-day  sacrifice,  Jesus  and  all 
these  men  went  up  to  the  Temple. 

Now,  I  have  told  thee  how,  when  Jesus 
had  first  come  to  Jerusalem,  he  had  driven 
forth  from  the  Court  of  the  Gentiles  all 
those  who  were  engaged  in  selling  beasts 
of  sacrifice,  or  in  changing  foreign  moneys 
for  the  shekels.  But  the  money-changers 
and  others  had  been  replaced  by  the 
orders  of  the  High  Priest  Hanan,  and 
nothing  had  come  of  this  action,  nor  in 
his  later  visits  to  Jerusalem  had  he  done 


136  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

aught  in  the  matter,  and  it  was  thought 
that  he  had  acknowledged  the  right  and 
the  power  of  the  priests  to  have  the  mo- 
nopoly of  the  sale  of  sacrifices.  Now, 
that  day  of  the  Moon  was  the  tenth  day  of 
the  month  Nisan,  and  upon  it  were  pur- 
<4  chased  all  the  lambs  for  the  forthcoming 
Passover  sacrifices,  as  it  is  said  in  the 
Law,  "  In  the  tenth  day  of  this  month 
they  shall  take  to  them  every  man  a  lamb 
according  to  the  house  of  their  fathers, 
a  lamb  for  an  house."  As  this  Paschal 
sacrifice  is  the  only  home  sacrifice  of  us 
Jews,  thou  mightest  imagine  that  each 
householder  could  obtain  his  lamb  whence 
he  would ;  but  the  priests  say  "  No "  to 
this,  for  if  a  man  could  take  any  chance 
lamb,  it  might  not  be  without  blemish. 
So  it  had  grown  to  be  a  custom  that,  on 
the  morning  of  the  tenth  day  of  Nisan, 
the  heads  of  households  in  Jerusalem 
should  wend  their  way  to  the  courts  of 
the  Temple,  there  to  select  each  man  a 
lamb.  And  the  priests  had  their  profit 
in  this,  for  they  claimed  from  those  who 
sold  the  lambs  dues  for  every  animal  al- 
lowed to  be  in  the  courts.  And  the  sellers 


THE  CLEANSING   OF  THE   TEMPLE.     137 

again  were  agreeable  to  this,  for  none  that 
had  not  the  favor  could  sell  the  Paschal 
lambs.  Whence  it  was  that  the  price  of 
a  lamb  in  the  Paschal  week  was  more  than 
three  times  as  much  as  at  any  time  of  the 
year,  and  the  poorer  people  murmured 
greatly. 

Thus  it  happened  that  upon  this  day, 
when  Jesus  came  into  the  courts  of  the 
Temple,  these  were  crowded  with  all  the 
householders  of  Jerusalem,  and  much  chaf- 
fering and  haggling  was  going  on  in  the 
purchase  of  the  lambs  for  the  Passover. 
But  Jesus,  with  the  favor  he  had  won 
from  the  people,  was  for  this  day  at  least 
Ruler  of  Jerusalem,  and  men  wondered 
what  he  would  do  with  regard  to  this  sale 
and  purchase  of  the  beasts  of  sacrifice ; 
for  on  his  first  coming  to  Jerusalem,  as  I 
have  told  thee,  he  had  driven  the  sellers 
away,  but  afterwards,  when  they  had  been 
restored  to  their  places,  he  had  seemed  to 
acquiesce.  What  would  he  do  now,  men 
thought,  as  they  saw  him  advancing  over 
the  Xystus  Bridge,  the  head  of  a  vast  con- 
course of  people  who  would  do  all  that  he 
told  them  ? 


138  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

They  had  not  long  to  wait,  for  no 
sooner  had  he  entered  the  Temple  courts, 
than  he  spake  to  those  around  him,  and 
ordered  them  to  remove  the  tables  of  the 
money-changers,  with  their  weights  and 
scales,  without  which  no  purchase  could 
be;  and  no  man  dared  say  him  nay,  for 
all  knew  that  the  people  were  with  him. 
And  they,  indeed,  were  rejoiced,  for  they 
took  this  as  permission  to  buy  their  Pas- 
chal lambs  where  they  would ;  and  many 
of  those  who  had  been  bargaining  in  the 
courts  of  the  Temple  went  off  at  once  to 
the  market,  and  got  them  their  lambs  from 
thence.  All  this  I  heard  of  in  the  inner 
courts  of  the  Temple,  for  it  chanced  that 
day  that  I  had  to  offer  a  sin  offering,  and 
was  waiting  my  turn  in  the  Court  of  the 
Israelites  while  the  priests  were  preparing 
the  mid-day  sacrifice.  And  I  saw  one 
coming  up  to  Hanan  and  to  Joseph  Caia- 
phas,  who  were  presiding  over  the  sac- 
rifice, and  they  spake  earnestly  to  one 
another,  and  stopped  the  sacrifice,  and 
came  through  the  Court  of  the  Israelites 
and  went  down  the  Court  of  the  Women, 
and  all  of  us  followed  them  thither.  And 


THE   CLEANSING   OF  THE   TEMPLE.     139 

when  we  came  to  the  Beautiful  Gate,  and 
turned  to  the  right  round  the  corner  of 
the  Temple,  behold,  we  saw  the  flocks  of 
Paschal  lambs  being  driven  through  the 
Western  Gates.  And  in  the  midst  of  the 
court  stood  Jesus,  surrounded  by  a  multi- 
tude clamoring  and  shouting.  Then  saw 
I  Hanan  lean  over  to  Joseph  Caiaphas, 
his  son-in-law,  and  speak  somewhat  to  him. 
Then  the  latter  advanced  in  front  of  the 
priests  and  the  scribes,  who  had  come 
forth  with  him,  and  asked,  "  Who  hath 
done  this?"  And  Jesus  said,  "It  is  I." 
Then  spake  Joseph  again  and  said,  "  Tell 
us,  by  what  authority  doest  thou  these 
things  ?  And  who  gave  thee  this  author- 
ity?" 

Now,  Joseph  the  High  Priest  was  clad 
this  day  in  the  robes  of  his  office,  with 
tiara  on  head,  the  ephod  on  his  breast, 
and  silver  bells  and  pomegranates  round 
the  edge  of  his  garment.  Whereas  Jesus 
the  Nazarene  wore  his  wonted  garb  of  a 
common  country  workman.  Yet  for  the 
moment  this  cgmmon  workman  was  the 
greater  power  of  the  two ;  since  all  men 
knew  how  he  had  been  received  by  the 


140  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

people  when  he  had  come  into  Jerusalem, 
and  that  what  he  willed,  all  the  people  of 
Jerusalem  willed  also  at  that  time.  So  all 
were  hushed  to  hear  what  this  Jesus  would 
say  to  the  question  of  the  High  Priest, 
since  now  they  thought  he  must  declare 
himself,  and  justify  the  power  he  was  exer- 
cising. 

But  here  again,  as  on  former  occasions, 
Jesus  answered  not  directly  to  the  question 
of  the  priests,  but  rather  questioned  them. 
He  said,  "  I  also  ask  you  one  thing,  which 
if  ye  tell  me,  I  likewise  will  tell  you  by 
what  authority  I  do  these  things.  The 
baptism  of  Jochanan,  was  it  from  heaven 
or  of  men  ?  Answer  me."  And  they  an- 
swered and  said  unto  Jesus,  "  We  cannot 
tell."  Then  said  Jesus  unto  them,  "  Then 
neither  will  I  tell  by  what  authority  I  do 
these  things.  To  what  is  the  matter  like  ? 
There  was  a  man  had  two  sons.  And  the 
man  came  to  the  first,  and  said,  '  My  son, 
go  work  in  my  vineyard.'  But  he  said,  '  I 
will  not.'  Howbeit  afterward  he  repented, 
and  went  to  work.  But  the  man  went  to 
the  second,  and  spake  in  like  manner.  But 
he  answered,  '  I  go,  sir.'  But  yet  he  went 


THE  CLEANSING   OF  THE   TEMPLE.      141 

not.  Whether  of  these  twain  did  the  will 
of  his  father  ? "  And  we  all  answered, 
"  The  first."  Then  Jesus  looked  slowly 
around  at  us  all,  and  said,  "  This  I  say 
unto  you,  the  publicans  and  harlots  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  before  you. 
For  Jochanan  came  unto  you  in  the  way 
of  righteousness,  and  ye  heeded  him  not, 
but  the  harlots  and  the  publicans  heeded 
him :  but  ye,  even  when  ye  saw  this,  re- 
pented not." 

Now,  at  this  public  insult  to  all  of 
priestly  rank,  I  saw  dart  forward  Hanan 
the  High  Priest,  as  if  he  would  have  rent 
the  man  Jesus.  But  Caiaphas  his  son-in- 
law  caught  him  by  the  wrist,  and  whispered 
words  in  his  ear.  But  Hanan  broke 
loose,  and  called  out  in  a  loud  voice,  "  My 
guard,  my  guard  ! "  Whereat  many  of  the 
folk  who  had  come  with  Jesus  into  the 
Court  of  the  Gentiles  came  forward  round 
him,  and  put  their  hands  to  their  weap- 
ons. He  indeed  said  naught,  nor  seemed 
aware  of  the  conflict  that  threatened. 
But  Caiaphas  turned,  and  in  a  loud  voice 
said,  "  I  go  to  perform  the  mid-day  sacri- 
fice," and  walked  slowly  out  of  the  court 


142  AS  OTHERS  SA  W  HIM. 

back  to  the  Temple.  And  we  all  followed 
him. 

Now,  when  we  returned  from  perform- 
ing the  sacrifice,  Jesus  had  left  the  courts 
of  the  Temple,  which  had  become  bare 
and  empty  of  people.  And  as  I  went 
homeward  to  my  house  in  the  Street  of 
the  Bakers,  I  looked  down  from  the 
Xystus  Bridge,  and  saw  trooping  down 
the  Tyropceon  Jesus  and  a  great  multitude 
of  the  people,  who  crowded  round  him, 
as  if  eager  to  touch  the  hem  of  his  gar- 
ment. I  stood  and  watched  till  they 
reached  the  Fountain  Gate,  through  which 
he  passed ;  and  shortly  afterwards  I  could 
see  him  on  the  road  to  the  Fountain  of 
Rogel,  still  accompanied  by  many  of  the 
people. 

What  was  to  come  of  that  day's  work  I 
knew  not.  For  the  first  time  the  dis- 
content of  the  common  folk  with  the  man- 
agement of  the  Temple  by  the  priests 
had  come  to  a  head,  and  had  resulted  in 
this  open  conflict  between  Jesus  and  the 
High  Priests.  The  city  was  full  of  stran- 
gers excited  by  thoughts  of  the  coming 
festival.  The  common  people  had  not  yet 


THE   CLEANSING   OF  THE   TEMPLE.     143 

calmed  themselves  from  the  thoughts  of  re- 
bellion which  had  been  raised  by  the  ris- 
ing of  Jesus  Bar  Abbas  and  others.  The 
whole  city  was  as  tow  ready  for  the  spark 
of  fire. 


XII. 

THE  WOES. 


XII. 

Now,  on  the  morrow,  being  the  third 
day  of  the  week,  Jesus  of  Nazara  came 
again  into  the  city,  and  the  rumor  of  his 
coming  spread  through  all  the  streets  and 
places  of  Jerusalem.  And  going  forth 
after  the  morning  prayers,  I  found  Jesus 
with  many  around  him  in  the  Broad  Place 
before  the  Water  Gate.  And  as  I  ap- 
proached near  to  them,  I  saw  the  crowd 
part  asunder  and  a  procession  coming 
through,  and  almost  all  the  men  there 
bowed  and  did  reverence  to  the  men  who 
were  passing  through.  Now,  these  were 
mostly  of  the  Pharisaic  sect,  who  were 
going  to  the  Great  Beth  Hamidrash,  to 
pursue  the  study  of  the  Law  and  to  give 
decisions  on  legal  questions  which  the 
common  folk  put  to  them.  And  at  their 
head  walked  Jochanan  ben  Zaccai,  the  Pre- 
sident of  the  Tribunal.  He  was  regarded 
as  the  most  capable  exponent  of  the  Law 
since  the  death  of  Hillel,  whose  favorite 


148  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

pupil  he  had  been,  and  men  were  wont  to 
refer  to  him  for  decision  in  all  the  most 
difficult  questions  of  life.  He  was  walking 
at  the  head  of  the  procession  in  his  long 
talith  with  large  borders  and  in  his  broad 
v/,  phylacteries.  And  he  passed  Jesus  with  a 
salutation,  indeed,  but  in  it  was  mingled 
some  of  the  pride  and  contempt  with  which 
the  masters  of  the  Law  regarded  all  those 
whom  they  call  the  Country-folk. 

When  these  had  passed,  Jesus  turned 
round  to  the  people,  and  spake  these  words : 

"  The  scribes  and  the  Pharisees  sit  in 
Moses'  seat :  all  therefore  whatsoever  they 
bid  you  observe,  that  observe  and  do ;  but 
do  not  ye  after  their  works  :  for  they  say, 
and  do  not.  For  they  bind  heavy  burdens 
and  grievous  to  be  borne,  and  lay  them  on 
men's  shoulders  ;  but  they  themselves  will 
not  move  them  with  one  of  their  fingers. 
But  all  their  works  they  do  for  to  be  seen 
of  men :  they  make  broad  their  phylac- 
teries, and  enlarge  the  borders  of  their  gar- 
ments, and  love  the  chief  place  at  feasts, 
and  the  chief  seats  in  the  synagogues,  and 
greetings  in  the  markets,  and  to  be  called 
of  men,  '  Rabbi,  Rabbi.' 


THE    WOES.  149 

"  But  be  not  ye  called  Rabbi :  for  One 
is  your  Master,  and  all  ye  are  brethren. 

"And  call  no  man  your  father  upon  the 
earth  :  for  One  is  your  Father,  which  is 
in  heaven. 

"  Neither  be  ye  called  Masters,  for  One 
is  your  Master. 

"  But  he  that  is  greatest  among  you  shall 
be  your  servant.  And  whosoever  shall  ex- 
alt himself  shall  be  abased ;  and  he  that 
shall  humble  himself  shall  be  exalted. 

"  But  woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Phari- 
sees, hypocrites !  for  ye  shut  up  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  against  men  :  for  ye  neither 
go  in  yourselves,  neither  surfer  ye  them 
that  are  entering  to  go  in. 

"  Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees, 
hypocrites  !  for  ye  devour  widows'  houses, 
and  for  a  pretence  make  long  prayers: 
therefore  ye  shall  receive  the  greater  dam- 
nation. 

"  Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees, 
hypocrites !  for  ye  compass  sea  and  land 
to  make  one  proselyte,  and  when  he  is 
made,  ye  make  him  twofold  more  the  child 
of  hell  than  yourselves. 

"  Woe  unto  you,  blind  guides,  which  say, 


150  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

1  Whosoever  shall  swear  by  the  Temple,  it 
is  nothing ;  but  whosoever  shall  swear 
by  the  gold  of  the  Temple,  he  is  bound ! ' 
Ye  fools  and  blind  !  for  whether  is  greater, 
the  gold,  or  the  Temple  that  sanctifieth 
the  gold  ?  And,  '  Whosoever  .shall  swear 
by  the  altar,  it  is  nothing ;  but  whosoever 
sweareth  by  the  gift  that  is  upon  it,  he  is 
bound ! '  Ye  fools  and  blind !  for  whether 
is  greater,  the  gift,  or  the  altar  that  sanc- 
tifieth the  gift?  Whoso,  therefore,  shall 
swear  by  the  altar,  sweareth  by  it,  and  by 
all  things  thereon.  And  whoso  shall  swear 
by  the  Temple,  sweareth  by  it,  and  by  him 
that  dwelleth  therein.  And  he  that  shall 
swear  by  heaven,  sweareth  by  the  throne 
of  God,  and  by  him  that  sitteth  thereon. 

"  Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees, 
hypocrites  !  for  ye  pay  tithe  of  mint  and 
anise  and  cummin,  and  have  omitted  the 
weightier  matters  of  the  Law,  judgment, 
mercy,  and  faith  ;  these  ought  ye  to  have 
done,  and  not  to  leave  the  other  undone. 

"  Ye  blind  guides,  which  strain  out  the 
gnat  and  swallow  a  camel ! 

"  Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees, 
hypocrites!  for  ye  make  clean  the  outside 


THE    WOES.  151 

of  the  cup  and  of  the  platter,  but  within 
they  are  full  of  extortion  and  excess.  Thou 
blind  Pharisee !  cleanse  first  that  which  is 
within  the  cup  and  platter,  that  the  outside 
of  them  may  be  clean  also. 

"  Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees, 
hypocrites!  for  ye  are  like  unto  whited 
sepulchres,  which  indeed  appear  beautiful 
outward,  but  are  within  full  of  dead  men's 
bones,  and  of  all  uncleanness.  Even  so  ye 
also  outwardly  appear  righteous  unto  men, 
but  within  ye  are  full  of  hypocrisy  and 
iniquity. 

"  Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees, 
hypocrites !  because  ye  build  the  tombs  of 
the  prophets,  and  garnish  the  sepulchres  of 
the  righteous,  and  say,  '  If  we  had  been  in 
the  days  of  our  fathers,  we  would  not  have 
been  partakers  with  them  in  the  blood  of 
the  prophets.'  Fill  ye  up,  then,  the  meas- 
ure of  your  fathers.  Ye  serpents,  ye  gen- 
eration of  vipers,  how  can  ye  escape  the 
damnation  of  hell  ?  " 

And  all  the  people  were  astonished  at 
these  words,  for  in  many  of  his  sayings  and 
most  of  his  actions  Jesus  had  seemed  to 


152  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

incline  more  to  the  sect  of  the  Pharisees 
than  to  any  other  section  of  the  house  of 
Israel.  And,  indeed,  in  the  opening  words 
of  his  discourse  he  had  granted  their  right 
to  interpret  the  Law  and  to  lead  the  people. 
Yet  wherefore  had  he  denounced  them  all 
without  distinction  as  men  insincere  and 
void  of  truth  ?  Hypocrites  there  were 
among  them  as  among  other  classes  of 
men.  Often,  indeed,  their  acts  did  not  go 
with  their  words ;  but  of  what  man  can 
it  be  said  that  all  his  acts  and  words  go 
together  ?  These  men  were  occupied  in 
building  a  rampart  to  the  Law,  and  hold- 
ing the  fortress  against  enemies  without 
and  dissensions  within.  Those  ramparts 
might  confine  our  actions  within  a  narrow 
space,  yet  is  it  not  well  for  all  men  to  be 
kept  perforce  in  the  path  of  duty  ?  I  know 
thou  thinkest  otherwise,  Aglaophonos. 
Thy  Master  the  Stagyrite  has  taught  thee 
that  man  should  be  a  law  unto  himself ; 
but  we  Jews  willingly  bear  the  yoke  of  the 
Law,  because  we  believe  it  to  be  the  yoke 
of  the  Lord.  And  in  this  matter  Jesus 
had  in  every  way  shown  himself  to  be  a 
Jew  of  the  Jews.  Why,  then,  was  he  so 


THE    WOES.  153 

in  wrath  against  the  interpreters  of  the 
Law? 

Yet  were  the  common  folk  not  displeased 
at  these  sayings  of  Jesus  ;  nay,  rather  they 
applauded  them.  For  in  many  ways  our 
Sages  have  failed  to  find  favor  with  the 
common  folk  of  Israel;  for  besides  that 
they  would  regulate  their  lives  at  every 
point,  so  that  no  man  dare  do  this  or  do 
that  except  in  the  way  the  Sages  prescribe, 
but  chiefly  the  rabbis  were  out  of  favor  with 
the  folk  for  that  they  did  openly  despise 
and  condemn  all  but  those  who  were  learned 
in  the  Law.  The  unlearned  they  called  the 
Country-folk.  Wherefore  did  the  people 
hear  with  pleasure  the  bitter  words  Jesus 
spake  against  the  scribes  and  the  Pharisees. 

The  night  of  that  same  day  an  event 
occurred  which  roused  the  city  of  Jerusa- 
lem to  a  pitch  of  expectation  such  as  I  had 
never  seen  there.  Two  young  Zealots, 
artisans,  that  were  popular  with  their  fel- 
lows for  their  kindness  of  heart  and  good 
humor,  fell  into  an  altercation  with  a  Ro- 
man officer  near  the  Sheep  Gate,  not  far 
from  Antonia,  where  all  the  Roman  soldiers 
lie.  Without  a  word  of  warning,  the  Ro- 


154  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

man  officer  drew  his  sword  and  killed  one 
of  these  young  men,  and  when  his  compan- 
ion and  the  passers-by  rebuked  him,  and 
would  have  seized  him  to  take  him  before 
the  procurator,  he  gave  a  signal,  and  a 
multitude  of  soldiers  poured  forth  from 
Antonia  and  struck  without  mercy  among 
the  crowd.  Five  were  killed  and  many 
were  wounded,  and  the  whole  city  was  in 
an  uproar  at  this  proof  of  Roman  inso- 
lence. "  How  long,  O  Lord  ?  "  the  gray- 
beards  said,  raising  their  hands  to  heaven. 
And  the  younger  men  said,  "  Let  us  but 
wait  the  coming  of  Jesus  the  Liberator; 
surely  before  the  Passover  he  will  free  us 
from  the  rule  of  the  Goyim? 


XIII. 

THE  GREAT  REFUSAL. 


XIII. 

THOU  canst  imagine  with  what  feelings 
of  expectation  all  Jerusalem  awaited  the 
coming  of  Jesus  next  morning.  Many  of 
the  Pharisees  had  come  together  the  eve 
before,  and  spoken  of  the  public  insult 
Jesus  had  given  to  their  sect  on  the  pre- 
ceding day.  Hanan  the  High  Priest,  we 
heard,  had  quarrelled  furiously  with  his 
son-in-law  Joseph  Caiaphas,  for  that  he 
had  not  allowed  him  to  summon  his  guard 
after  the  humiliation  he  had  put  upon 
them  in  the  Temple.  Yet  neither  the 
Pharisees  nor  the  Sadducees  who  fol- 
lowed the  High  Priests  dared  lay  hands 
upon  this  Jesus,  because  of  the  evident 
favor  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  com- 
mon folk  of  Jerusalem,  and  above  all  by 
the  many  from  country  parts  who  had 
come  up,  like  him,  to  spend  the  Passover 
in  the  Holy  City.  Among  all  these  there 
was  no  talk  but  of  Jesus  the  Liberator ; 
nay !  many  spake  of  him  as  Jesus  the 


158  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

Christ.  And  if  he  were  indeed  to  be  the 
Christ,  the  King  of  Israel,  the  Founder  of 
the  New  Kingdom,  it  could  not  be  that 
he  would  suffer  longer  the  yoke  of  the 
Romans  to  lie  upon  the  neck  of  Israel. 

Yet  there  was  one  thing  that  perplexed 
many,  and  opinion  went  hither  and  thither 
among  the  minds  of  men  concerning  it. 
The  Christ  who  was  to  deliver  Israel  and 
to  rule  over  mankind,  was  he  not  to  be 
the  son  of  David  ?  Yet  this  Jesus  was  of 
Galilee,  where  the  admixture  of  blood  had 
been  greatest  in  all  Israel.  "  There  is  no 
unleavened  bread  in  all  Galilee,"  the  scof- 
fers used  to  say,  meaning  thereby  that 
their  genealogy  was  sprinkled  with  yeast, 
as  we  call  foreign  admixture.  And  for 
this  man's  genealogy,  who  could  declare 
it  ?  Many,  indeed,  as  I  have  told  thee, 
thought  him  to  have  no  right  even  to  be 
called  son  of  his  father.  A  mamzer  shall 
not  sit  in  the  congregation  of  Israel. 
How,  then,  could  one  ascend  Israel's 
throne  ? 

When,  therefore,  Jesus  came  next  morn- 
ing from  his  lodging  in  Bethany,  all  Jeru- 
salem turned  out  to  welcome  him,  for  the 


THE  GREAT  REFUSAL.  159 

Passover  was  coming  anear,  and  if  aught 
was  to  be  done  to  clear  the  city  of  the 
Romans,  it  must  be  done  quickly,  must  be 
done  on  that  day.  Never  saw  I  the  courts 
of  the  Temple  so  crowded  as  on  that  day 
when  I  came  thither,  and  found  Jesus 
standing  in  the  Court  of  the  Gentiles, 
with  almost  all  the  leading  men  of  Jeru- 
salem and  many  of  the  common  folk  surg- 
ing about  him.  Scarce  room  was  left  for 
the  Roman  sentry  to  march  his  guard  in 
front  of  the  Beautiful  Gate.  Yet  he  took 
no  heed  of  us  barbarians,  but  with  shield 
and  spear  shouldered  his  way  backward 
and  forward,  backward  and  forward,  a 
sign  to  all  men  that  the  house  of  God 
was  in  the  hands  of  God's  enemies. 

Never  saw  I  the  men  of  Jerusalem  so 
exultant  as  on  that  morning.  Wherever 
I  looked,  joy  —  a  grim  joy — was  on  every 
man's  countenance,  and  there  was  no  man 
there  but  was  armed,  save  only  Jesus  him- 
self and  some  ten  or  a  dozen  men  who  had 
come  with  him  from  Bethany,  and  these, 
indeed,  were  the  only  men  who  had  not 
shown  joy.  Never  had  I  seen  the  Naza- 
rene  with  a  countenance  so  saddened  and 


160  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

aweary.  Yestermorn  he  had  been  flashing 
with  anger  and  indignation  as  he  spake 
his  words  against  the  Pharisees,  but  on 
this  day  his  force  seemed  to  be  spent,  and 
he  appeared  like  one  who  had  passed 
through  a  great  agony. 

Now,  as  they  were  standing  there,  I  saw 
a  man,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Zealots, 
armed  as  if  for  battle,  go  up  and  lay  a 
hand  upon  one  of  those  with  Jesus.  He 
spake  eagerly  with  him,  and  pointed  with 
his  thumb  to  the  Roman  soldier  as  he 
passed  to  and  fro.  But  the  other  shook 
his  head  vehemently,  and  took  his  arm 
away  from  the  grasp  of  the  Zealot  and 
turned  his  back  upon  him. 

Now,  at  this  moment  certain  of  the 
Pharisees  came  through  the  crowd  and 
advanced  to  Jesus.  So  great  was  the 
crowd  that  I  heard  not  at  first  what  they 
said  unto  him ;  but  it  must  have  been 
some  question  about  the  matter  that  was 
in  all  men's  minds,  for.  I  heard  his  reply, 
and  that,  as  was  his  wont,  was  in  the  form 
of  a  counter-question  to  their  inquiry,  for 
he  said,  "  What  think  ye  of  the  Christ  ? 
Whose  son  is  he?"  And  they,  speaking 


THE  GREAT  REFUSAL.  l6l 

with  the  thought  of  all  Israel,  said,  "  The 
Christ  is  the  son  of  David." 

Then  all  men  watched  with  expectancy 
to  hear  what  the  Nazarene  would  say  to 
this ;  for  if  he  agreed  with  them,  then 
would  he  deny  himself  to  be  the  Christ : 
for  his  genealogy  had  by  no  means'  been 
proven.  But  yet,  how  could  he  disprove 
the  belief  of  all  Israel,  that  the  Christ  was 
the  Son  of  David  ?  Yet  that  did  he  after 
the  manner  of  our  Sages,  using  words  of 
Scripture  as  his  confirmation ;  for  he  said 
unto  them,  "  How  then  is  it  that  David 
himself  saith  in  the  Book  of  Psalms,  '  The 
Lord  said  unto  my  Lord,  Sit  thou  on  my 
right  hand  until  I  make  thine  enemies  thy 
footstool '  ?  David  therefore  himself  call- 
eth  the  Christ  Lord;  how  then  can  the 
Christ  be  his  son  ? " 

At  this  the  Pharisees  knew  not  what  to 
say,  for  no  man  had  hitherto  used  that 
stichos  of  the  Psalms,  and  they  knew  not 
what  to  reply.  But  the  common  folk 
were  rejoiced  exceedingly;  joy  spread  on 
their  faces,  and  I  saw  many  a  fist  raised 
and  shaken  in  exultant  defiance  at  the 
Roman  sentry,  who  walked  hither  and 


1 62  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

thither  on  his  guard  as  if  he  were  a  living 
mass  of  steel. 

Thereupon  certain  of  the  crowd  who 
were  known  to  be  followers  of  Herod  had 
speech  with  Jesus,  and  spake  to  him : 
"  Master,  we  know  that  thou  art  true,  and 
carest  for  no  man ;  that  thou  regardest 
not  the  person  of  men,  but  teachest  the 
way  of  God  in  all  truth  —  tell  us,  there- 
fore, what  thinkest  thou:  is  it  lawful  to 
give  tribute  to  Caesar  or  not?  shall  we 
give,  or  shall  we  not  give  ? "  All  men 
were  silent,  and  drew  their  breath  to  hear 
what  Jesus  might  say  to  this.  For  if  he 
claimed  to  be  the  Anointed  One,  to  whom 
but  to  the  King  of  Israel  should  Israel's 
tribute  be  paid  ? 

But  he  said  unto  them,  "  Why  tempt  ye 
me  ?  Bring  me  a  denarius,  that  I  may  see 
it."  And  they  brought  one  and  put  it 
into  his  hand.  And  he  held  it  forth  unto 
them,  and  said,  "  Whose  is  this  image  and 
superscription  ? "  And  they  answered, 
"  Caesar's."  And  then  Jesus  said  unto 
them,  "  Render  to  Caesar  the  things  that 
are  Caesar's,  and  to  God  the  things  that 
are  God's."  And  these  Herodians  mar- 


THE   GREAT  REFUSAL.  163 

veiled  at  the  subtlety  with  which  he  had 
answered  them,  but  the  common  folk  were 
amazed  and  dumfounded  at  his  answer. 
And  soon  I  heard  one  say  to  another,  "  He 
denieth :  he  would  pay  tribute  to  Caesar." 
And  gradually  all  the  men  drew  away  from 
him,  leaving  him  alone  with  only  the  com- 
pany with  him  from  Bethany. 

But  he,  seeing  this,  turned  to  one  of 
those  with  him,  and  said,  "  Peter,  of  whom 
do  the  kings  of  the  earth  take  custom  ? 
of  their  own  children,  or  of  the  aliens?" 
And  Peter  answered  and  said,  "  Of  the 
aliens."  Then  Jesus  said  to  him,  "  Then 
are  the  children  free  ?  "  And  Peter  said 
to  him,  "  Yes."  Then  said  Jesus  unto  him, 
"  Then  do  thou  also  give,  as  being  an  alien 
to  them."  The  common  folk  heard  this, 
indeed,  but  were  in  no  wise  satisfied.  If 
they  were  to  give  tribute  to  the  Romans 
for  whatever  cause,  they  were  still  to  be 
under  subjection  to  Rome,  and  then  Jesus 
refused  to  be  their  Liberator;  that  had 
become  clear  to  them  of  a  sudden.  And 
they  drew  still  further  away  from  him. 
And  a  deep  silence  of  mortification  fell 
upon  all  men  there,  so  that  thou  couldst 


164  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

hear  distinctly  the  tread  of   the    Roman 
sentry  as  he  moved  on  his  march. 

Amid  the  deep  silence  suddenly  came  a 
gentle  tinkling,  as  of  silver  bells ;  it  came 
nearer  and  nearer,  and  a  crier  called  out, 
"  Way  for  the  High  Priests ! "  Then  Ha- 
nan  the  High  Priest,  with  Caiaphas  his 
son-in-law,  and  others  of  the  priests  accom- 
panied by  their  guard,  came  down  the 
steps  from  the  Beautiful  Gate.  The  Ro- 
man sentry  stopped  his  march  and  stood 
upright,  with  spear  on  ground,  and  all 
made  way  as  the  procession  of  the  High 
Priests  passed  through  the  court.  All 
men  were  silent,  and  thou  couldst  hear  the 
tinkling  of  the  silver  bells  which  were  at- 
tached to  the  hems  of  the  High  Priests' 
garments.  Hanan  walked  at  the  head  of 
the  procession  with  his  usual  haughty 
gait,  and  had  nearly  passed  through  the 
court,  when  he  saw  Jesus  and  those  with 
him.  At  once  he  halted,  and  summoned 
one  of  the  crowd  to  him.  Then  we  saw 
much  eager  talk  between  this  man  and  the 
High  Priest.  And  Hanan  summoned  the 
captain  of  his  guard,  who  would  have 
turned  towards  Jesus,  but  that  Joseph 


THE   GREAT  REFUSAL.  165 

Caiaphas  stayed  him  and  spake  unto  Ha- 
nan,  pointing  to  the  Roman  sentry.  After 
much  talk  between  these,  the  High  Priests 
resumed  their  march  and  left  the  Temple. 
And  all  the  other  men  began  to  pass  away 
from  the  court,  leaving  Jesus  and  his  men 
alone  with  none  to  listen  to  him.  For  the 
word  passed  swiftly  in  the  mouths  of  all 
the  men  of  Jerusalem,  —  "  He  refuseth ; 
he  would  have  us  be  slaves  of  the  Romans 
forever." 


XIV. 

THE  MEETING  OF  THE  HANANITES. 


XIV. 

THE  next  day  being  the  fifth  day  of  the 
week,  and  the  thirteenth  day  of  the  month 
Nisan  in  that  year,  many  rumors  went 
about  the  city  as  to  the  man  Jesus.  There 
were  who  said  that  he  had  been  seized  by 
the  guards  of  Hanan ;  others  said  that  he 
had  left  the  village  of  Bethany  and  gone 
no  man  knew  whither.  But  for  that  day 
Jesus  came  not  into  Jerusalem,  and  men's 
minds  were  occupied  more  with  one  of 
the  difficulties  of  our  Law  which  form  the 
occupation  and  delight  of  our  Sages.  I 
must  explain  this  unto  thee,  for  upon  it 
turn  the  events  of  the  next  day,  so  fateful 
for  the  man  about  whom  thou  art  inquir- 
ing. Thou  canst  easily  understand  what 
I  shall  say,  for  thou  hast,  I  know,  a  copy 
of  the  Scriptures  in  Greek,  for  did  I  not 
procure  it  for  thee  ? 

It  is  said  in  the  Law,  thou  wilt  find,  that 
the  Passover  lamb  is  to  be  killed  in  the 
twilight  between  the  fourteenth  and  the 


I/O  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

fifteenth  of  Nisan,  and  it  is  also  said  in  our 
Law  that  the  whole  of  the  lamb  must  be 
consumed  that  evening.  Now,  in  the 
years  when  the  fifteenth  of  Nisan,  which 
is  the  first  day  of  the  Passover,  falleth 
upon  the  Sabbath,  the  killing  and  roasting 
of  the  lamb  would  take  place  on  the  Sab- 
bath eve,  when  no  killing  must  take  place 
and  no  fire  must  be  lit.  Hence  arises  a 
conflict  of  the  Law  of  the  Passover  with 
the  Law  of  the  Sabbath.  Now,  the  older 
view  was,  that  the  Passover  was  superior 
to  the  Sabbath,  and  its  law  was  to  be  fol- 
lowed in  preference.  This  the  priests 
held  and  followed,  and  in  this  they  seemed 
to  have  the  authority  of  the  great  Hillel, 
who  also  declared  the  Passover  superior  to 
the  Sabbath. 

But  many  among  the  Pharisees  and  the 
more  pious  preferred  to  slay  the  Passover 
lamb  on  the  eve  between  the  thirteenth 
and  the  fourteenth  day  of  Nisan,  and  to 
eat  it  on  the  fourteenth  day ;  that  is,  in 
those  years  when  the  Passover  fell  on  the 
Sabbath,  as  was  the  case  in  the  year  of 
which  I  am  now  writing.  It  would  appear 
that  Jesus  and  his  followers  held  with  the 


THE  MEETING  OF  THE  HANANITES.   I /I 

latter  opinion,  for,  as  I  have  heard,  on  the 
eve  of  the  fourteenth  of  Nisan  he  came 
stealthily  into  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  and  ate 
the  Passover  lamb  concealed  in  an  upper 
chamber  of  one  of  his  friends  in  the  city. 
It  showeth  how  earnest  this  man  was  in 
following  the  larger  precepts  of  the  Law, 
though  in  smaller  matters  he  seemed  to 
neglect  it.  For  by  this  time  he  must 
have  known  that  he  was  no  longer  safe  in 
Jerusalem  ;  and,  indeed,  he  proved  this  by 
his  secret  entry  into  it.  Yet  in  order  to 
fulfil  the  Law,  which  saith,  "  The  Passover 
lamb  is  to  be  eaten  in  Jerusalem,"  he 
risked  his  own  and  his  followers'  lives. 
Yet  was  he  careful  of  them ;  for,  as  thou 
shalt  soon  hear,  as  soon  as  he  had  gone 
through  the  meal  prescribed  by  the  Law, 
he  escaped  out  of  Jerusalem. 

Now,  that  night  I  was  standing  at  the 
door  of  my  house,  looking  upon  the  city 
bathed  in  the  light  of  the  moon,  which 
was  near  its  full,  when  suddenly  a  man 
seized  me  by  the  arm  and  said,  "  Thou 
art  wanted."  I  looked,  and  behold  it 
was  Simon  Kantheros,  my  brother-in-law. 
And  I  said  to  him,  "  Who  wants  me  ?  and 


AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

wherefore  ?  "  And  Simon  answered  me 
and  said,  "  Hanan  the  High  Priest  has 
summoned  suddenly  a  meeting  of  the 
Sanhedrim  at  his  house  on  the  Mount  of 
Olives."  Then  said  I,  "  But  if  it  be  at  his 
house,  it  can  only  be  the  Priestly  Sanhe- 
drim of  Twenty-Three  that  he  summons." 
"  Nay,  nay,  man,"  answered  Simon,  "  the 
case  is  urgent.  He  saith,  '  any  member  of 
the  Sanhedrim.'  Come,  then,  with  me, 
and  quickly."  So  with  that  I  seized  my 
mantle  and  my  staff,  and  went  forth  with 
him. 

So  we  hurried  across  the  market-place 
towards  the  Fish  Gate,  and  as  we  passed 
near  the  Tower  Antonia,  we  saw  the  flash- 
ing of  red  lights,  and  heard  hoarse  cries  of 
command,  and  knew  not  what  was  toward. 
But  when  we  arrived  at  the  Fish  Gate,  we 
found  them  changing  the  sentries  of  the 
first  watch,  and  knew  that  the  second 
watch  had  begun.  At  first  the  sentry 
would  not  let  us  through  the  gate;  but 
the  officer  was  called,  and  Simon  showed 
him  his  badge  as  member  of  the  San- 
hedrim. But  even  this  would  not  have 
sufficed,  but  that  Simon  then  pointed  to 


THE  MEETING  OF  THE  HANANITES.    1 73 

his  toga  and  the  purple  stripe,  which 
showed  that  he  was  a  Roman  citizen  of 
rank.  Thereat  the  officer  spake  to  the 
sentry,  and  we  passed  through  the  gate, 
and  turned  sharply  to  the  right,  and  went 
down  the  road  which  leads  to  the  valley 
of  the  Kidron.  And  as  we  were  passing 
the  Brook  Kidron,  we  looked  and  saw  dots 
of  red  light  moving  up  the  hill  from  the 
Garden  of  Gethsemane.  And  as  we  ad- 
vanced up  the  hill  of  the  Mount  of  Olives, 
we  could  see  from  time  to  time  these  red 
sparks  preceding  us ;  and  when  we  came 
within  sight  of  the  High  Priest's  house, 
we  saw  them  enter  in  and  disappear. 

Soon  we  ourselves  had  come  up  to  the 
gate,  and  when  we  knocked,  a  wicket  was 
opened,  and  a  face  peered  out,  and  our 
names  were  asked.  When  we  had  told 
them,  the  gate  was  closed,  and  we  had  to 
wait  some  time.  But  at  last  the  door  was 
opened,  and  the  captain  of  the  guard  re- 
ceived us.  He  took  us  through  the  pas- 
sage which  led  into  the  open  court,  with 
the  water-basin  in  the  centre,  round  which 
we  skirted,  and  ascended  the  steps  into 
the  inner  house.  And  again  we  stopped 


174  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

before  the  hall-door  while  our  names  were 
asked,  and  again  we  had  to  wait  till  the 
door  was  at  last  opened.  Then  at  last  we 
entered  the  hall,  and  found  Joseph  Caia- 
phas  the  High  Priest  and  many  of  his 
kinsmen  seated  round  a  long  table.  Caia- 
phas  rose,  and  motioned  us  to  two  seats 
at  the  end  of  this  table,  and  we  seated 
ourselves. 

When  my  eyes  had  become  accustomed 
to  the  light,  I  looked  round,  and  said  the 
greeting  of  peace  unto  those  I  knew  of  the 
assembly.  I  can  still  remember  many  of 
their  names.  There  was  Ishmael  ben 
Phabi,  who  had  at  first  replaced  Hanan  as 
High  Priest.  There  were  also  the  four 
sons  of  Hanan  —  Eleazar,  Jonathan,  Theo- 
philus,  and  Matthias.  Then  there  were 
Kamithos  the  priest,  and  his  two  sons, 
Simon  and  Joseph.  And  beside  these,  I 
remember  two  men  of  my  own  generation 
—  Elioni  ben  Kantheros  and  Chananyah 
ben  Nedebai.  Most  of  these  men  had 
been,  or  were  afterwards,  High  Priests, 
and  were  all  at  this  time  members  of  the 
Priestly  Sanhedrim.  On  the  left  of  Caia- 
phas  was  a  low  stool,  and,  even  as  I  looked, 


THE  MEETING  OF  THE  HANANITES.   1/5 

Hanan  ben  Seth  the  High  Priest  came  in 
swiftly  from  a  side  door,  and  took  a  seat 
thereon.  He  glanced  sharply  round  at 
each  of  us,  counting  our  numbers,  and  we 
were  exactly  three  and  twenty.  And  when 
he  saw  me,  he  rose  and  spake  somewhat 
harshly,  "  Meshullam  ben  Zadok,  what  dost 
thou  here?  This  is  a  meeting  of  the 
Priestly  Sanhedrim.  Thou  art  a  son  of 
Israel."  And  I  answered  and  said, "  Simon 
Kantheros  here,  my  kinsman,  summoned 
me  to  the  meeting,  saying  that  any  mem- 
ber of  the  Sanhedrim  could  attend."  The 
High  Priest  thought  for  a  moment — he 
seemed  as  if  he  were  counting  us  again  — 
then  he  said,  "  Be  it  so  ;  thou  art  at  least 
a  true  son  of  Israel,  and  this  is  not  a 
formal  meeting  of  the  priests."  He  sat 
him  down  again,  and  we  waited.  At  last 
an  attendant  entered  by  the  same  door, 
and,  going  up  to  the  High  Priest,  spake 
to  him.  He  nodded  quickly,  and  dismissed 
him  with  a  wave  of  his  hand.  And  when 
he  had  passed  through  the  door,  Hanan 
the  High  Priest  rose,  and  spake  to  us  these 
words :  — 

"  Kinsmen  and  colleagues,  ye  have  all 


1 76  AS   OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

heard,  if  ye  have  not  witnessed,  how  Jesus 
of  Nazara  entered  the  Holy  City  on  the 
first  day  of  this  week,  amid  the  acclama- 
tions of  his  followers  and  many  of  the 
lower  people,  who  even  went  so  far  as  to 
hail  him  as  the  Deliverer.  Now,  to-mor- 
row, as  ye  know,  is  the  Passover.  Who 
knows,  if  the  thoughts  of  deliverance  from 
Egypt,  which  come  at  that  time,  may  not 
cause  this  man,  or,  if  not  him,  his  followers, 
to  attempt  a  rising  against  the  Romans  our 
masters  ?  We  know  that  any  such  attempt 
would  be  entirely  futile,  but  the  very  at- 
tempt itself  would  be  the  ruin  of  the  nation. 
Ye  know  the  character  of  the  man  Pontius 
Pilate.  'T  is  but  a  short  time  since  he  slew, 
of  wanton  cruelty,  certain  Galilasans,  even 
while  they  were  making  sacrifices,  and  all 
for  mere  suspicion  of  disaffection.  Ye  can- 
not but  remember  the  building  of  Solo- 
mon's Aqueduct.  Because  money  was 
taken  from  the  Temple  treasury  for  the 
building  thereof,  the  people  were  inflamed, 
and  would  have  risen  against  them.  'What 
did  he  but  send  his  soldiers,  disguised  in 
civil  garb  and  armed  with  clubs,  among  the 
people,  when  they  came  to  make  their  pro- 


THE  MEETING  OF  THE  HANANITES.    1 77 

test?  And  without  warning,  and  in  mere 
wanton  cruelty,  did  he  give  the  signal  for 
massacre.  If  he  did  this  at  a  mere  threat 
of  a  rising,  what  will  happen  should  an 
actual  rising  take  place  to-morrow  ?  It  is 
our  duty  to  see  that  such  a  calamity  fall 
not  upon  this  nation  because  of  the  pres- 
ence of  this  rude  provincial  in  our  midst. 
Better  one  man  should  die  than  the  nation 
should  suffer.  No  time  was  to  be  lost, 
and  I  therefore  have  had  this  Jesus  ar- 
rested, and  he  now  awaits  our  pleasure  in 
the  atrium. 

"  Before  I  summon  him  to  our  presence, 
I  would  briefly  state  to  you  what  seems  to 
me  and  some  of  our  friends  here  the  right 
course  to  be  followed.  We  purpose  to 
hand  him  over  at  dawn  to  Pontius  Pilate, 
to  deal  with  him  as  he  will.  For  he,  by 
his  spies,  and  by  the  demonstration  on  the 
first  day  of  the  week,  must  be  aware  of 
the  danger  of  a  rising  to-morrow  night, 
caused  by  this  man's  presence  in  our  city. 
Indeed,  it  is  for  the  very  purpose  of  pre- 
venting a  rising  that  he  cometh  up  each 
year  about  the  Passover  to  Jerusalem. 
Let  it,  then,  be  his  care  to  prevent  it  how 


1/8  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

he  will ;  we  shall  have  done  our  part,  and 
he  cannot  punish  the  nation,  or  us  its 
leaders. 

"  But  some  of  you  will  say,  Why  should 
we  deliver  this  man  up  to  the  Romans, 
perhaps,  or  even  probably,  to  his  death  ? 
I  say,  that  even  apart  from  the  danger 
which  he  offers  to  the  State,  he  is  worthy 
of  death  for  his  manifest  blasphemies. 
He  speaketh  of  himself  as  very  God,  and 
claims  to  be  the  Anointed  One,  and  puts 
aside  the  Law  as  it  pleaseth  him.  I  say 
naught  of  his  insolence  in  the  Temple 
cloisters,  for  this  matter  concerns  us  that 
be  priests,  and  in  the  matter  of  judgment 
we  must  not  take  account  of  aught  that 
deals  with  our  private  concerns ;  yet  it  is 
manifest  that  he  hath  no  reverence  for  the 
Lord's  house :  witnesses  shall  prove  to 
you  that  he  hath  said  he  would  sweep  it 
away  and  build  another.  I  wonder  not 
that  horror  is  expressed  in  your  faces  at 
this  blasphemy. 

"  Yet,  as  ye  know,  our  Law  hath  in 
mercy  provided  that  none  shall  be  con- 
demned unless  on  the  testimony  of  wit- 
nesses. The  Law  shall  be  fulfilled.  Even 


THE  MEETING  OF  THE  HANANITES.   1 79 

now,  as  I  speak,  one  of  his  followers, 
Judas,  a  man  of  Kerioth,  is  drawing  forth 
from  him  his  blasphemies  before  two  wit- 
nesses, concealed,  as  is  the  custom.  And 
even  if  he  fail,  I  know  this  man  Jesus ;  in 
his  arrogance  he  will  not  scruple  to  repeat 
his  blasphemies,  even  before  us. 

"  Time  presses,  and  I  have  but  this  to 
add  before  the  prisoner  is  Summoned:  it 
is  a  wise  provision  of  our  Law,  that  in 
capital  charges  no  final  condemnation 
shall  occur  until  the  second  day  of  the 
trial.  The  day  before  the  Passover  began 
this  eve.  If  we  keep  to  the  Law,  no  con- 
demnation can  take  place  till  after  the 
first  day  of  the  Passover,  by  which  time 
all  the  mischance  may  have  come  to  pass. 
If  the  power  of  life  and  death  were  solely 
in  our  hands,  I  would  not  depart  in  aught 
from  the  wise  provision  of  our  forefathers ; 
but,  in  truth,  if  this  man  be  put  to  death, 
it  will  not  be  our  doing,  for  his  fate  rests 
with  Pilate.  I  would  remind  the  younger 
members  of  the  Sanhedrim  that  the  final 
decision  is  not  with  us,  and  if  they  vote 
for  this  man's  death,  as  I  cannot  doubt 
they  will,  considering  the  pressing  danger 


180  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

to  our  nation,  they  need  not  fear  to  be 
called  members  of  a  bloodthirsty  Sanhe- 
drim, since  his  death,  if  death  he  suffers, 
will  be  at  the  hands  of  the  Roman  Procu- 
rator. In  this  strait  I  propose,  therefore, 
to  examine  this  man  at  once,  and  if,  as  I 
doubt  not,  he  avows  his  guilt,  to  wait  till 
the  morning  for  his  final  condemnation, 
and  in  this  way  fulfil  the  Law.  Summon 
the  prisoner  to  our  presence."  Then, 
turning  to  Caiaphas,  he  said,  "  This  is  a 
matter  between  us  and  the  Romans,  for 
whom  thou,  Joseph,  art  the  High  Priest. 
Take  thou,  then,  the  interrogatory." 


XV. 

THE  EXAMINATION  BEFORE  THE   SANHEDRIM. 


XV. 

THEN  from  the  lower  end  of  the  hall 
entered  Jesus  the  Nazarene,  with  his  arms 
bound  with  withes  behind  his  back,  and 
he  was  led  by  the  captain  of  the  guard  up 
to  the  centre  of  the  table  opposite  Caia- 
phas  the  High  Priest.  Then  Caiaphas 
rose,  and,  looking  at  a  paper  in  his  hand 
which  Hanan  had  given  him,  said  unto 
Jesus,  "  Jesus  of  Nazara,  thou  art  accused 
before  us  of  blasphemy,  and  of  leading  the 
people  of  Israel  astray:  what  sayest  thou 
thereto  ?  "  Jesus  gazed  haughtily  at  him, 
and  answered,  "  I  spake  openly  to  all  the 
world,  I  have  taught  in  the  synagogue  and 
in  the  Temple,  and  in  secret  I  have  said 
nothing.  Why  askest  thou  me?  Ask 
them  which  heard  me  what  I  have  said 
unto  them.  Behold,  they  know  what  I 
have  said."  Then  one  of  the  men  who 
had  led  Jesus  in  struck  him  with  the 
palm  of  his  hand,  and  said,  "  Answerest 
thou  the  High  Priest  so  ? "  But  Jesus 


1 84  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

turned,  and  said  to  him  in  a  milder  voice, 
"  If  I  have  said  aught  that  is  evil,  bear 
witness  thereof;  but  if  well,  why  smitest 
thou  me  ? "  And  Caiaphas  the  High 
Priest  bade  the  man  begone  and  bring 
in  the  witnesses.  Then  one  man  came 
forward  and  said  he  had  heard  Jesus  call 
himself  the  Son  of  God.  And  another, 
that  he  had  spoken  of  himself  as  if  he 
were  very  God,  and  could  do  all  that  the 
Holy  One,  blessed  be  He,  can  perform. 
And  yet  another  came  forward  and  said 
he  had  heard  Jesus  speak  of  himself  as 
Son  of  Man,  and  had  thereby,  as  he 
thought,  claimed  to  do  what  the  Son  of 
Man  is  said  to  do  in  the  Prophets  Daniel 
and  Enoch.  But  no  two  of  these  wit- 
nesses agreed  as  to  time  and  seasons,  as 
is  required  by  our  Law.  At  last,  however, 
two  of  them  declared  that  on  the  preced- 
ing day  in  the  Temple  they  had  heard 
him  say,  "  I  will  destroy  this  Temple  that 
is  made  with  hands,  and  in  three  days  I 
will  build  another  without  hands."  Now, 
during  all  this  time  Jesus  had  said  naught, 
but  looked  before  him  with  that  rapt  ex- 
pression that  I  had  seen  upon  him  on  the 


BEFORE   THE  SANHEDRIM.  185 

second  occasion  when  I  had  heard  him 
preach  in  the  synagogue  of  the  Galilasans. 
So  Caiaphas  the  High  Priest  spake  to 
him,  saying,  "Answerest  thou  naught  to 
what  these  men  witness  against  thee  ? " 
And  Jesus  made  as  if  he  heard  not. 

Then  Hanan  the  High  Priest  leaned 
over  to  Caiaphas  his  son-in-law  and  spake 
some  words  to  him.  Then  Caiaphas,  ris- 
ing, spake  thus  to  Jesus :  "  Art  thou  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  the  Holy  One,  blessed 
be  He  ? "  Then  Jesus  raised  his  head, 
and  gazing  fixedly  at  the  High  Priest, 
said  in  a  loud  voice,  "  Thou  hast  said. 
And  hereafter  ye  shall  see  the  Son  of 
Man  sitting  on  the  right  hand  of  power, 
and  coming  on  the  clouds  of  heaven." 
Then  Hanan  the  High  Priest  rose  and 
rent  his  clothes,  as  is  our  wont  in  time 
of  mourning  or  when  blasphemy  is  heard, 
and  he  called  out  in  his  keen,  shrill  voice, 
"  What  need  we  any  further  witnesses  ? 
Ye  have  heard  the  blasphemy;  what  think 
ye  ? "  And  he  waved  his  hand  to  the 
captain  of  the  guard,  who  removed  the 
prisoner. 

When  the  door  was  closed  behind  him, 


1 86  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

Hanan  said,  "  What  need  we  of  further 
words?  let  us  proceed  to  the  judgment." 
And  glancing  over  to  Chananyah  ben 
Nedebai,  he  said,  "  Chananyah,  thou  art 
the  youngest ;  it  is  thine  to  pronounce 
judgment  first.  Is  not  this  man  guilty  of 
death  for  his  manifest  blasphemy  here  be- 
fore us  ?  "  And  Chananyah  said,  "  Yea." 
And  so  said  all  till  Hanan  had  called 
upon  thirteen  to  give  judgment  Then 
said  Hanan,  "  This  man  is  for  certain  con- 
demned to  death,  or  at  least  to  be  handed 
over  to  the  Roman  Procurator :  for  already 
a  majority  of  two  have  declared  his  death, 
even  if  all  the  rest  were  for  an  acquittal, 
as  I  cannot  think  possible.  The  Court 
will  rise  and  reassemble  at  the  time  of  the 
saying  of  the  morning  prayer,  in  order  to 
confirm  this  judgment.  Ye  will  not  have 
long  to  wait,  for  even  now  I  heard  the 
crowing  of  the  cock,  and  the  dawn  cannot 
be  far  off." 

Then  the  Court  broke  up,  and  many  of 
the  younger  members  met  together  and 
discussed  the  case.  And  I  was  somewhat 
surprised  to  find  that  very  few  words  of 
compassion  were  raised  for  Jesus.  The 


BEFORE   THE  SANHEDRIM.  187 

stubborn  conduct  of  the  prisoner  had  set 
them  against  him  rn  the  first  place,  and 
his  wild  outburst  had  confirmed  their  ill 
thoughts  of  him.  But  most  of  all  they 
were  influenced  by  the  thought  that  this 
was  but  a  preliminary  trial,  and  could  only 
result  in  handing  him  over  to  the  Roman 
Procurator,  with  whom  the  last  word 
would  be.  None  of  them  had  seen  aught 
of  Jesus  but  during  the  last  few  days  in 
the  Temple,  when  he  had  interfered  with 
their  order  and  prerogatives.  I  cannot 
say  I  was  convinced,  either  by  Hanan's 
harangue  at  first,  or  by  these  men's  ar- 
guments afterwards.  But  I  was  somewhat 
perplexed,  feeling  myself  in  some  wise  an 
intruder  in  their  midst,  not  being  of  the 
priestly  order.  And  as  is  my  custom  in 
such  cases,  I  went  out  into  the  open  air 
down  the  steps  into  the  atrium. 

There  I  found  a  great  fire  had  been  lit  in 
the  court,  for  the  night  was  chilly.  Near 
the  fire  Jesus  was  seated,  with  the  High 
Priest's  guard  around  him.  As  I  came 
near,  behold,  one  of  the  guard  threw  part 
of  his  mantle  across  the  face  of  Jesus  so  as 
to  blindfold  him,  and  then  struck  him,  say- 


1 88  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

ing,  "  Thou  art  a  Prophet ;  prophesy  who 
hath  struck  thee."  And  all  the  soldiers 
laughed  and  jeered.  Then  sought  I  the 
captain  of  the  guard  and  told  him  this,  and 
he  said,  "  They  mean  naught  of  ill  —  they 
be  rude  fellows ;  howbeit,  I  will  stop  them." 
And  he  went  up  to  them  and  reproved 
them.  And  I  paced  up  and  down  the 
courtyard,  with  the  silent  stars  above  and 
the  glowing  fire  beneath,  till  an  apparitor 
of  the  High  Priest  summoned  me,  saying, 
"  It  beginneth  to  dawn  at  the  back  of  the 
house ;  the  Council  will  resume  its  sitting." 
When  I  entered  the  council-chamber,  I 
found  all  seated  as  before,  but  in  the  midst 
was  a  smaller  table,  at  whjch  was  seated  a 
scribe,  with  a  roll  in  front  of  him.  Then 
Hanan  the  High  Priest  came  in,  and  said, 
"  Ye  have  all  had  the  time  of  deliberation 
prescribed  by  our  sages  in  capital  cases,  or 
at  least  as  much  time  as  the  urgency  of  the 
matter  permits.  We  must  proceed  to  the 
formal  ratification  of  this  man's  sentence,  for 
I  cannot  doubt  that  ye  will  see  fit  to  con- 
firm the  righteous  judgment  which  your 
zeal  for  the  Lord  caused  you  to  pass  just 
now  upon  this  man.  And  again  I  would 


BEFORE   THE  SANHEDRIM.  189 

bid  you  remember  you  are  voting,  not  so 
much  for  this  man's  death,  as  whether  he 
is  to  be  delivered  to  the  Romans.  Scribe, 
read  the  roll."  And  with  that  the  scribe 
began  to  read  our  names,  and  we  all  an- 
swered to  them.  Then  said  Hanan,  "  We 
will  now  proceed  to  the  voting,"  and  called 
upon  Chananyah  ben  Nedebai  to  record 
his  vote.  And  he  voted  as  before,  for 
death.  Then  each  in  his  turn,  and  all 
voted  as  before.  And  when  my  name  was 
called  upon  I  arose  and  hesitated,  and 
Hanan  looked  over  to  me  and  said,  "  Thou 
speakest  here  by  our  courtesy,  Meshullam 
ben  Zadok ;  if  thou  disagree  with  the 
unanimous  opinion  of  thy  colleagues,  thou 
hadst  best  instruct  us  in  thy  reasons. 
What  sayest  thou?  Is  not  he  guilty  of 
death  who  is  guilty  of  blasphemy  against 
the  Most  High  ?  "  "  Yea,"  said  I.  "  And 
was  not  this  man  Jesus  manifestly  guilty  of 
blasphemy  before  us  ?  "  "  Yea,"  said  I. 
Then  said  Hanan  swiftly  to  the  scribe, 
"  He  voteth  for  death,"  and  waved  me 
down  to  my  seat.  And  thereafter  all  the 
remaining  members  of  the  Council  voted 
for  death,  finishing  with  Hanan  as  the 


1 90  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

oldest,  who  merely  gave  a  grim  nod  to  the 
scribe. 

By  this  time  it  was  quite  light,  and  all 
the  Council  and  many  of  Hanan's  house- 
hold joined  together  to  say  the  morning 
prayers.  After  prayers  most  of  the  Coun- 
cil, with  Hanan  and  Caiaphas  at  our  head, 
followed  the  soldiers  who  guarded  Jesus 
down  from  the  Mount  of  Olives.  As  we 
came  near  the  Brook  Kidron,  behold,  a 
man  with  haggard  face  darted  out  from 
the  shrubs  by  the  wayside,  and  rushing  up 
to  Hanan  the  High  Priest,  dashed  down 
at  his  feet  a  bag  which  chinked,  and  then 
disappeared  into  the  wayside  again.  But 
Hanan  only  motioned  with  his  finger  to 
the  bag  at  his  feet,  and  the  captain  of  his 
guard  lifted  it  up  and  poured  out  its  con- 
tents into  his  hand,  and,  behold,  it  was  a 
number  of  new  shekels  from  the  Temple 
treasury.  Then  Hanan  smiled  grimly,  and 
bade  the  captain  put  them  aside.  There- 
upon we  resumed  our  march,  and  soon 
came  to  the  Aldgate.  There  we  inquired 
where  the  Procurator  was,  and  learnt  that 
he  had  taken  up  his  dwelling  at  the  Palace 
of  Herod,  so  that  he  might  be  in  Jerusalem 


BEFORE   THE  SANHEDRIM.  19 1 

during  the  Passover,  as  was  his  wont,  for 
fear  of  a  rising  at  that  time.  Then  we 
marched  across  and  halted  in  front  of  the 
palace.  And  on  our  way  the  rumor  spread 
throughout  the  city  that  Jesus  the  Naza- 
rene  was  being  carried  before  the  Procura- 
tor, and  soon  our  procession  was  joined  by 
all  who  were  free  from  household  duties. 
I  have  explained  to  thee,  have  I  not,  how 
that  for  those  of  the  older  opinion  this  sixth 
day  of  the  week  was  the  day  on  which  the 
Paschal  lamb  was  to  be  sacrificed,  and  for 
all  good  Jews  the  morning  would  be  de- 
voted to  the  final  search  after  the  leaven. 
That  morning,  therefore,  all  the  house- 
holders of  Jerusalem  and  all  the  heads  of 
families  were  occupied  in  the  search  after 
leaven,  or  in  preparation  for  the  Paschal 
sacrifice,  and  it  was  only  the  younger  men, 
and  those  who  cared  not  for  acts  of  piety, 
who  followed  our  procession  on  the  way  to 
Herod's  Palace. 

Now,  all  those  of  the  Council  were  of 
the  older  opinion  as  to  the  Paschal  sacri- 
fice, and  were  about  to  perform  it  on  the 
evening  of  that  day.  Wherefore  it  be- 
hoved them  not  to  enter  the  dwellings  of 


192  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

the  heathen  during  that  day,  since  it  is 
their  custom  to  bury  the  bodies  of  men  in 
their  gardens  or  in  their  houses,  which 
render  them  a  defilement  to  us  Jews. 
Therefore  on  the  day  of  a  sacrifice  no  Jew 
may  enter  a  heathen's  house,  above  all  the 
High  Priest,  upon  whose  sanctity  the  holi- 
ness of  the  nation  depends.  When,  there- 
fore, we  came  within  twenty  paces  of  the 
Procurator's  dwelling,  Hanan  caused  our 
procession  to  halt,  and  a  summons  to  be 
sounded  upon  the  trumpet.  Thereat  a 
lictor  appeared,  who  asked  our  business, 
and  to  him  Hanan  gave  a  message  to  the 
Procurator.  And  here  for  the  first  time 
since  he  had  been  arrested  I  could  see  the 
countenance  of  Jesus  near  me,  and  it  sur- 
prised me  much  to  observe  that  all  traces 
of  anxiety  and  weariness  had  disappeared 
from  it.  He  seemed  relieved  and  resigned, 
and  paid  no  heed  to  what  was  passing 
around  him,  seeming  only  to  commune 
with  himself,  or  perhaps,  I  should  say,  with 
some  inward  friend  and  comforter. 

Then  Pontius  Pilate  came  forward  and 
spake  to  Joseph  Caiaphas  the  High  Priest, 
and  asked  him  what  he  would  with  him. 


BEFORE   THE  SANHEDRIM.  1 93 

And  Caiaphas  answered  and  said,  pointing 
to  Jesus,  "  This  man  have  we  captured  and 
brought  unto  thee,  finding  that  he  was  per- 
verting the  people,  and  declaring  that  he 
was  the  Anointed  One  of  Israel,  and  there- 
fore the  rightful  King  of  the  Jews.  Him 
therefore  have  we  brought  to  thee,  seeing 
it  is  a  matter  which  toucheth  our  master 
the  Emperor."  Thereupon  Pontius  Pilate 
turned  round,  and  said  something  in  the 
barbarian  tongue,  and  the  guard  of  Roman 
soldiers  came  forward  and  took  Jesus  from 
the  High  Priest's  guard,  and  took  him 
with  them  up  the  steps  of  the  palace. 
Then  Pilate  courteously  invited  the  High 
Priests  to  enter  the  judgment-hall  with 
him  ;  but  they,  in  answer,  pointed  out  that 
on  that  holy  day  they  dared  not  enter  to 
any  house  but  their  own  and  the  house  of 
God.  Then  Pilate  turned  his  back  with 
scanter  courtesy,  and  reentered  the  palace, 
and  we  and  the  common  people  remained 
outside  waiting. 


XVI. 

CONDEMNATION  AND  EXECUTION. 


XVI. 

AND  after  a  while  of  waiting,  Pontius 
Pilate  reappeared,  and  coming  down  to 
Caiaphas  said,  "  He  hath  confessed ;  he 
shall  join  the  other  criminals  that  are  to 
be  executed  this  day."  Then  one  among 
those  who  were  waiting  in  the  crowd 
came  forward  unto  Pilate,  and  said  unto 
him,  "  Master,  it  is  a  grace  of  our  lord 
the  Emperor  that  at  our  Passover  there 
be  released  unto  us  one  of  the  prisoners 
that  are  condemned  to  death."  And 
Pilate  answered  and  said,  "  That  is  so : 
whom  will  ye  that  I  release  ? "  And 
many  of  those  in  the  crowd  called  out, 
"Jesus."  And  Pilate  stepped  back,  and 
summoned  to  him  a  lictor.  And  shortly 
after  soldiers  came  forward  in  the  portico, 
bearing  with  them  Jesus  the  Nazarene. 
Upon  him  was  a  purple  robe  of  royalty, 
and  upon  his  brow  had  been  placed  the 
faded  rose-wreath  of  some  reveller  which 
had  been  put  on  in  haste,  and  some  of  the 


198  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

thorns  had  torn  the  flesh,  and  blood  was 
trickling  down.  When  the  people  saw 
him,  many  cried  out,  "  Not  this  Jesus,  but 
Jesus  Bar  Abbas."  And  one  man  among 
the  crowd  called  out,  "  Better  Jesus  Bar 
Abba1  than  Jesus  Bar  Amma;"2  and 
laughter  and  jeers  followed.  Then  Pilate 
seemed  puzzled,  and  called  to  him  one  of 
his  lictors,  who  spake  earnestly  to  him  for 
a  time,  and  then  received  an  order,  from 
him.  And  going  up  the  steps,  he  entered 
the  palace.  And  shortly  afterwards  there 
came  forward  the  man  Jesus  Bar  Abbas  of 
Jerusalem,  of  whom  I  have  spoken  to  thee 
before.  Now,  he  had  been  very  popular 
among  the  folk,  and  had  lost  his  liberty  in 
a  rising  against  the  Romans,  in  which  a 
Roman  sentry  had  been  slain.  And  there 
stood  the  two  Jesuses  —  the  one  that  had 
risen  against  the  Romans,  and  the  one 
that  had  told  the  people  they  should  pay 
tribute  to  their  Roman  lords.  It  was 
manifest  that  the  new-comer,  who  had 
done  naught  against  the  Romans,  was 
more  in  favor  with  Pilate  the  Procurator, 

1  Bar  Abba  means  "  son  of  his  father." 

2  Bar  Amma  means  "  son  of  his  mother."  —  ED. 


CONDEMN  A  TION  AND  EXECUTION.     199 

while  the  folk  who  had  welcomed  him  on 
the  first  day  of  the  week,  on  this  the  sixth 
day  reviled  and  despised  him  because  he 
had  refused  to  lead  a  rising  against  the 
Romans  as  the  other  one  had  done.  Then 
Pilate  called  out  to  them  and  said,  "  Whom 
will  ye  that  I  release  unto  you  :  Jesus 
who  is  called  Bar  Abbas,  or  Jesus  who  is 
called  Christ  ?  "  And  almost  all  the  mul- 
titude cried,  "  Jesus  Bar  Abbas !  Jesus 
Bar  Abbas  ! "  Then  Pilate  gave  command, 
and  the  soldiers  took  back  Jesus  the  Naza- 
rene  into  the  palace  again,  while  others 
removed  the  fetters  from  Jesus  Bar  Abbas, 
and  he  came  down  the  steps  and  disap- 
peared among  the  crowd. 

After  a  while,  there  came  forward  from 
the  side  gate  a  company  of  Roman  sol- 
diers, who  took  their  stand  in  front  of  the 
steps  of  the  palace,  moving  the  crowd 
away  therefrom.  And  shortly  after,  other 
soldiers  brought  down  from  above  three 
men,  each  carrying  two  pieces  of  timber, 
one  fixed  across  the  top  of  the  other,  like 
unto  the  letter  tau.  One  of  these  was 
Jesus  the  Nazarene,  clad  once  more  in 
his  own  garments,  and  without  the  rose- 


200  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

wreath ;  yet  couldst  thou  see  the  mark 
of  the  thorns  upon  his  brow.  The  others 
were,  as  I  learnt,  malefactors  that  had 
been  condemned  for  robbery. 

Just  at  this  moment  one  touched  me  on 
the  shoulder,  and,  turning,  I  found  it  was 
one  of  the  servants  of  my  household,  who 
spake  unto  me  and  said,  "  Meshullam  ben 
Zadok,  thy  father  would  speak  with  thee." 
And  as  the  house  was  not  far  off,  I  went 
with  him  and  spake  to  my  father,  who 
would  have  me  accompany  him  on  the 
search  for  leaven  on  that  morn.  For  at 
that  time  I  was  betrothed,  and  next  year 
I  should  have  a  house  of  my  own,  and 
would  have  to  conduct  the  search  for 
leaven  as  a  master  of  a  household.  So  I 
went  round  the  house  with  my  father  — 
peace  be  upon  him  !  —  and  searched  for 
the  leaven. 

By  the  time  the  search  for  the  leaven 
had  been  concluded,  the  hour  had  come 
for  the  mid-day  meal,  at  which  all  the 
members  of  my  family  assembled.  But  I 
hurried  forth,  as  soon  as  the  grace  after 
meals  had  been  said,  to  ascertain  what 
had  been  the  fate  of  the  Nazarene.  I 


CONDEMNATION  AND  EXECUTION.     2OI 

could  not  go  to  the  place  of  execution,  for 
it  is  not  seemly  for  a  member  of  the  San- 
hedrim to  attend  an  execution.  I  soon 
learnt  that  the  Roman  soldiers  had  con- 
ducted Jesus  and  the  two  others  to  the 
Hill  Golgotha,  somewhat  apart  from  the 
place  of  stoning,  where  our  Jewish  execu- 
tions were  held. 

As  I  have  explained  to  thee,  Aglao- 
phonos,  our  Sages  have  mercifully  inter- 
preted the  words  of  the  Law  relating  to 
the  four  modes  of  capital  punishment 
among  us  —  stoning,  burning,  beheading, 
and  strangulation.  For  stoning  they  have 
substituted  throwing  down  from  a  height 
after  the  criminal  has  been  made  to  feel 
naught  by  drinking  a  mixture  of  frank- 
incense, myrrh,  and  vinegar,  which  the 
ladies  of  Jerusalem  supply  as  one  of  their 
pious  duties.  The  criminal  condemned 
to  be  burnt  is  in  reality  strangled,  and 
then  a  lighted  wick  placed  for  a  moment 
in  his  open  mouth.  In  every  way  the 
aim  of  the  Sages  is  to  shorten  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  condemned  man.  But  the 
Romans,  at  least  in  their  execution  of  all 
but  Roman  citizens,  seem  rather  to  aim  at 


202  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

the  opposite  of  this ;  for  they  have  se- 
lected, as  their  method  of  execution  for 
slaves  and  criminals  that  are  not  citizens, 
suspension  on  a  cross,  by  which  all  the 
organs  of  the  body  are  strained  and  tor- 
tured till  some  vital  organ  gives  way. 
It  was  this  cruel  form  of  punishment  that 
the  Romans  were  dealing  out  to  Jesus  the 
Nazarene.  It  happeneth  oft  that  men  live 
for  two  or  three  days  on  the  cross,  till 
they  die  even  of  hunger.  I  learnt  to  my 
dismay  that  Jesus  had  refused,  with  words 
of  menace,  to  take  the  draught  of  myrrh 
and  wine  which  the  ladies  of  Jerusalem, 
as  I  have  said,  prepare  for  all  men  con- 
demned to  capital  punishment,  so  that 
they  may  not  feel  the  pain  and  torture. 

I  could  not  go  to  the  place  of  execution, 
as  a  member  of  the  Sanhedrim.  I  hurried, 
therefore,  to  the  northern  slopes  of  the 
Temple  mount,  whence  one  can  see  Gol- 
gotha. At  first  I  could  discern  naught, 
for  sombre  clouds  covered  all  the  heights 
of  Scopus.  But  suddenly  a  flash  came 
forth  from  them,  followed  by  a  dull  roll  of 
thunder,  and  I  could  see  for  a  moment 
three  crosses  raised  side  by  side  on  the 


CONDEMNA  TION  AND  EXECUTION.     203 

top  of  Golgotha.  Which  of  these  held 
Jesus  I  knew  not.  I  only  knew  that  there 
was  dying  one  who  had  seemed  born  to 
do  honor  to  his  nation,  to  help  to  deliver 
Israel  from  the  men  who  were  now  tortur- 
ing him  to  his  death.  Since  the  night  be- 
fore, events  had  so  hurried  past  me  that  I 
had  had  no  time  to  think  of  their  import  till 
now,  when  I  sat  me  down  in  the  purple 
shadow  of  Antonia,  and  gazed  upon  the 
hill  of  execution,  where  from  time  to  time 
flashes  showed  me  the  three  crosses  on 
the  hill. 

This,  then,  was  the  end  of  the  hopes 
connected  with  Jesus  of  Nazara,  and  of 
the  empire  which  he  had  wielded  over 
men's  minds !  But  five  days  agone  wel- 
comed as  a  king,  to-day  executed  with  the 
ignominy  reserved  for  the  basest  slave. 
Each  day  of  his  sojourn  in  Jerusalem  he 
had  made  another  and  yet  another  class  of 
the  nation  his  enemies.  First  he  threatens 
the  power  of  the  priests ;  next  he  insults 
their  opposites,  the  Pharisees  ;  and  then  he 
puts  to  naught  the  hope  of  the  common 
folk  that  he  would  help  them  rise  against 
the  Romans.  Between  Sabbath  and  Sab- 


2O4  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

bath  he  had  lost  every  friend ;  not  even 
his  immediate  followers  stood  by  his  side 
in  the  hour  of  trial. 

And  yet  no  man  had  appeared  in  Israel 
for  many  generations  endowed  in  so  high 
a  degree  with  all  the  qualities  which  mark 
us  Israelites  out  from  the  nations  around. 
He  was  tender  to  the  poor ;  and  which  of 
the  nations  has  given  thought  for  its  poor, 
their  feelings  as  well  as  their  welfare,  like 
unto  Israel?  He  bare  the  yoke  of  the 
Law  willingly,  yet  as  a  son,  not  as  a  slave, 
of  the  Most  High.  God  was  to  him,  as 
to  all  of  us,  as  an  ever-present  Father,  to 
love,  to  chasten,  and  to  reward ;  not  as  a 
harsh  taskmaster  or  as  a  boon-companion, 
as  with  the  commoner  minds  of  thy  peo- 
ple, Aglaophonos ;  nor  as  a  vain  figment 
of  the  reason,  as  with  thy  higher  minds. 

Even  in  what  thou  regardest  as  defects 
in  our  nation,  this  Jesus  seemed  also  to 
share.  Thou  makest  us  the  reproach  that 
we  give  no  thought  to  the  beauties  and 
grandeur  of  nature,  and  in  nothing  that  I 
had  seen  and  heard  of  him  did  the  Naza- 
rene  differ  from  the  rest  of  us  in  this. 
Thou  complainest  that  we  look  upon  life 


CONDEMNA  TION  AND  EXECUTION.     205 

with  all  too  much  seriousness.  "  Ye  can- 
not see  the  smile  upon  the  face  of  things," 
thou  saidst  once  to  me.  In  this  surely 
Jesus  was  a  Jew  of  the  Jews.  We  never 
saw  him  smile,  still  less  heard  him  laugh. 
Thou  wouldst  hold  up  to  me  as  a  model 
Socrates  thy  teacher,  who  taught  the  Hel- 
lenes truth  with  a  smile.  That  man  there, 
dying  upon  the  cross,  had  tried  to  teach 
Israel  the  truth  with  tears  and  threats. 

Herein  he  followed  the  exemplar  of  our 
prophets.  Only  in  Israel  have  the  men 
who  have  led  us  farthest  reviled  us  most. 
As  our  God,  who  has  been  to  us  a  Father, 
has  chastened  us  while  he  loved  us,  so  our 
prophets  have  rebuked  us  their  brethren. 
Many  generations  of  men  have  passed 
since  the  last  of  the  prophets  spake  his 
words  of  loving  reproof.  Now  has  ap- 
peared this  Jesus,  who  again  takes  up 
their  work. 

But  in  one  thing,  and  that  a  great  thing, 
he  differs  from  our  prophets.  All  these 
spake  never  but  as  messengers  of  the  Most 
High.  This  man  alone  of  the  prophets 
speaketh  in  his  own  name:  therefore  he 
hath  been  a  stumbling-block  and  an  of- 


206  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

fence  unto  us.  He  spake  as  one  having 
authority,  and  it  seemed  to  us  as  arro- 
gance. And  when  we  would  speak  with 
him  in  the  gates,  and  know  his  own 
thought,  he  evaded  our  questionings  and 
eluded  our  testings.  He  seemed  aloof 
from  us  and  our  desires.  All  Israel  was 
pining  to  be  freed  from  the  Roman  yoke, 
and  he  would  have  us  pay  tribute  to  Rome 
for  aye.  Did  he  feel  himself  in  some  way 
as  not  of  our  nation  ?  I  know  not ;  but 
in  all  ways  we  failed  to  know  him. 

And  as  I  was  communing  thus,  the  sun 
shone  forth  from  a  rift  in  the  clouds  and 
illumined  for  a  space  the  crown  of  Calvary, 
and  I  stretched  forth  my  hands  to  the  fig- 
ures on  the  cross,  and  cried  aloud  in  my 
perplexity,  "  Jesus,  what  art  thou  ? "  And 
then  I  bethought  me,  and  my  hands  fell 
to  my  side,  and  I  said,  "What  wert  thou, 
Jesus  ? "  Naught  answered  me  but  the 
distant  rumbling  from  the  gloomy  clouds. 

But  the  sun  was  setting  over  Israel,  and 
I  turned  to  my  father's  house,  there  once 
more  to  celebrate  the  Feast  of  the  Deliver- 
ance from  Egypt. 


EPILOGUE. 

THUS  far  had  I  written  to  thee,  Aglao 
phonos,  as  to  what  I  knew  of  that  Jesus 
the  Nazarene  about  whom  thou  hast  made 
so  earnest  inquiry.  I  had  minded  to  hand 
it  to  Alphseus  ben  Simon,  my  cousin,  who 
goeth  this  week  in  the  galley  to  Cyprus, 
and  thence  would  have  passed  it  on  to 
thee  by  the  hands  of  one  of  our  brethren 
who  visit  Greece  from  year  to  year.  But 
there  has  happened  to  me  an  event  which 
has  given  me  much  to  think  of  with  regard 
to  this  very  matter  of  Jesus.  It  chanced 
that  the  day  before  yesterday  I  went  from 
the  Jewish  quarter  in  this  city  of  Alexan- 
dria for  my  usual  walk  along  the  Lochias, 
which  adjoins  it.  There  it  is  my  custom 
to  catch  the  sea  air  and  to  watch  the  ves- 
sels put  into  the  Inner  Port.  Now,  it 
chanced  that  as  I  came  upon  the  Lochias, 
the  vessel  of  Joppa  had  just  hoved-to  in 
the  Inner  Port,  and  the  passengers  were 
being  landed  up  the  Broad  Steps.  Now 


208  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

these,  by  their  talith  and  their  faces,  I 
knew  to  be  Jews,  and  I  went  up  to  them, 
and  greeted  them  with  the  greeting  of 
peace.  But  among  them  one  came  to  me 
with  the  look  of  recognition  in  his  eyes, 
and  said,  "  Knowest  thou  me  not,  Meshul- 
lam  ben  Zadok?"  And,  behold,  it  was 
Rufus  ben  Simon,  whom  I  had  known 
before  I  left  the  Holy  City.  So  I  wel- 
comed him,  and  brought  him  home  to  this 
house  of  mine.  And  here  he  remaineth 
till  the  morrow,  when  he  starteth  forth  to 
go  to  Cyrene. 

Now,  in  my  inquiries  about  old  friends 
left  behind,  and  new  things  that  had  hap- 
pened since  I  went  away,  I  failed  not  to 
ask  about  the  followers  of  the  Nazarene. 
To  my  wonder,  I  found  that  this  Rufus 
had  become  one  of  them,  even  though  he 
was  but  a  child  when  Jesus  died.  Yet  is 
he  a  good  Jew  in  all  else.  He  eateth  only 
our  meat,  and  keepeth  our  Sabbaths  and 
festivals.  But  he  avers  that  the  Anointed 
One,  whom  we  expect,  has  already  ap- 
peared, and  that  he  was  Jesus  the  Naza- 
rene. And  upon  my  inquiry  how  he  could 
know  aught  of  Jesus  but  from  the  common 


EPILOGUE.  209 

talk,  he  put  in  my  hand  some  Memorabilia 
of  him,  written  down  in  Hebrew  by  one  of 
his  chief  followers,  Matathias.1  This  have 
I  read  again  and  again,  and  pondered  much 
thereon.  Nor  have  I  been  able  to  sleep 
these  two  nights  for  the  new  thoughts 
about  Jesus  that  have  come  to  me  from 
reading  these  memoirs  of  him. 

For,  behold,  he  appeareth  in  these  rec- 
ords of  him  by  his  own  followers  in  far 
other  wise  than  he  showed  himself  to  us  in 
public  at  Jerusalem.  In  all  his  public  acts 
among  us  he  was  full  of  scornful  rebukes ; 
among  his  own  followers  he  was  tender 
and  loving.  Scarcely  ever  could  we  get 
him  to  speak  out  to  us  plainly  his  views 
about  matters  of  public  concern.  He 
would  always  give  us  an  answer  full  of 
evasion  and  enigma,  but  to  his  followers 
he  would  explain  all  his  meaning  over  and 
over  again,  illustrated  with  parable.  There 
at  Jerusalem  he  almost  always  turned  to 
the  people  his  harsher  side.  I  saw  him  on 
every  occasion  on  which  he  appeared  in 

1  Probably  the  so-called  Primitive  Gospel,  the  common 
foundation  of  our  Synoptics.  But  the  date  is  somewhat 
early.  —  ED. 


210  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

public  in  Jerusalem,  and,  save  only  in  his 
sermons,  he  was  always  rebuking  one  or 
another,  just  like  the  prophets  of  old.  And 
the  manner  of  his  rebuking  towards  us  was 
as  with  scorpions,  whereas  among  his  own 
he  would  mingle  tenderness  even  with  his 
reproaches.  Nor,  saving  his  sermons, 
which  few  heard  but  those  who  already 
followed  him,  had  he  aught  novel  to  tell  us 
about  the  things  of  life.  He  seemed  to  us 
as  if  he  would  destroy  the  temple  of  our 
faith,  nor  in  his  public  actions  did  he  give 
any  promise  of  building  it  up  anew.  Yet 
to  those  with  him  he  would  continually  be 
telling  what  to  do  and  how  to  do  it,  till, 
behold,  a  new  manner  of  life,  fair  and 
seemly,  stood  before  them,  fulfilled  of  Jew- 
ish righteousness,  with  a  tender  mercy 
which  was  the  man's  very  own. 

I  need  not  detail  to  thee,  Aglaophonos, 
what  these  acts  and  words  were  which  have 
given  me  an  altogether  new  light  as  to  the 
character  and  thoughts  of  the  man  Jesus. 
From  certain  words  of  thine  in  thy  letter, 
which  I  understood  not  then  when  I  first 
read  it,  I  can  see  now  that  thou  must  have 
had  some  such  account  of  the  life  and 


EPILOGUE.  211 

death  of  Jesus  before  thee  as  this  which 
Rufus  hath  shown  unto  me.  Now  I  can 
understand  wherefore  thou  hast  inquired 
about  this  Jesus  writh  such  eager  insistence. 
And  to  thee  as  a  Gentile  the  revelation  of 
his  character  would  come  with  more  attrac- 
tive force  than  to  us  that  be  Jews.  For  in 
almost  every  way  this  Jesus  fulfilleth  the 
idea  of  a  Jew  as  we  have  it  in  these  later 
days.  Working  with  his  hands,  yet  teach- 
ing with  his  voice ;  obedient  to  the  Law, 
yet  ever  eager  to  take  a  new  law  upon  him- 
self;  doing  acts  of  love  among  men,  yet 
rebuking  in  love  their  ill  acts,  and  doing 
all  things  as  in  the  presence  of  the  Glory ; 
—  in  all  this  Jesus  was  as  the  best  of  our 
Sages. 

"  Wherefore,  then,  did  ye  suffer  him  to 
be  killed  ? "  thou  wilt  ask  me,  and  indeed 
I  ask  myself.  If  I  were  to  answer  thee 
in  the  way  Jesus  was  wont  to  answer  us, 
I  would  say,  "  Why  did  ye  Hellenes  con- 
demn Socrates  to  the  hemlock  ?  "  For  he 
was  as  much  the  Ideal  of  the  Hellenes  as 
Jesus  of  the  Jews.  Every  Hellene  would 
be  eloquent  and  reasonable,  and  that  was 
Socrates.  Every  Jew  would  be  wise  and 


212  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

good  and  pious,  and  that  was  Jesus.  Yet 
each  of  these  men,  if  I  read  their  lives 
aright,  died  the  death  of  a  criminal,  because 
he  cared  not  for  that  which  his  fellow- 
countrymen  cared  for  most.  Socrates  died 
because  he  would  force  his  countrymen  to 
examine  by  their  reason  the  ideas  and  ideals 
which  they  all  accepted.  Jesus  died  for 
the  same  reason,  but  also  for  another  — 
for  that  he  cared  naught  for  our  national 
hopes.  We  were  all  panting  for  national 
freedom ;  he  would  have  naught  of  it. 
Whether  it  was  that  he  felt  in  some  sort 
to  be  not  of  our  nation,  I  know  not ;  but 
in  all  his  teaching  he  dealt  with  us  as  men, 
not  as  Jews.  It  is  this,  I  can  see,  that  has 
attracted  thee  to  his  doctrine,  whereas  thou 
wert  always  scornful  of  our  Jewish  preten- 
sions, as  thou  calledst  them. 

Yet  herein  again  was  he  at  one  with  the 
best  thoughts  of  our  Sages.  Our  God  is 
the  God  of  all,  and  his  Law  shall  be  one 
day  the  Law  of  all.  If  we  yearn  for  the 
universal  realm  of  the  Messiah,  it  is  as 
much  for  the  sake  of  the  world  as  for  our- 
selves. But  methinks  I  see  in  the  thoughts 
of  this  Jesus  an  idea  quite  other  than  ours 


EPILOGUE.  213 

as  to  what  the  Anointed  One  shall  be 
and  shall  do.  We  hope  for  him  as  a  Deliv- 
erer and  a  Conqueror  with  force  of  arms 
by  God's  aid.  Now,  Jesus  seemed  not  to 
think  of  the  Anointed  One  in  any  way 
like  this.  His  mind  seemed  to  be  filled 
rather  with  the  picture  of  the  Servant  of 
God  as  drawn  by  the  Prophet  Esaias. 
Thou  knowest  the  passage,  Aglaophonos ; 
I  remember  thy  laughter  when  first  I  read 
it  thee,  that  men  could  look  forward  to 
contempt  and  hatred  as  a  good.  Truly  the 
idea  is  far  different  from  the  saying  of  the 
barbarian,  "  Woe  to  the  conquered  !  "  And 
surely  to  us  all,  Jew  and  Gentile,  Greek  and 
barbarian,  the  greatest  of  joys  is  this  —  to 
worst  an  equal  foe  in  fair  fight.  But  to 
Esaias  the  prophet,  and  to  Jesus  the  Naza- 
rene  after  him,  the  higher  victory  is  with 
him  that  is  worsted  in  the  battle  of  life. 
That  will  come  as  good  tidings  to  nine  out 
of  every  ten  of  men. 

Therefore,  if  Jesus  thought  of  himself  as 
the  Anointed  One,  it  was  as  being  anointed 
with  the  woes  of  the  vanquished,  with  the 
sweat  and  the  blood  of  the  lowly  and  de- 
spised. Now  I  know  why  he  seemed  so 


214  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

sad  when  he  was  greeted  at  Jerusalem  as 
a  victor.  He  had  spent  his  life  in  trying 
to  impress  a  new  ideal  upon  his  people, 
and  they  had  welcomed  him  only  as  the 
fulfilment  of  the  old  ideal  which  he  desired 
to  replace.  None  of  thy  poets  have  given 
a  drama  with  more  of  eironeia  in  it  than 
this. 

Yet  why  did  he  remain  silent  before  us 
as  to  these  ideas  of  his  ?  If,  indeed,  these 
were  his  ideas ;  for  even  with  the  new 
light  given  by  the  Hebrew  Memorabilia,  I 
can  see  his  thought  but  dimly.  Why 
spake  he  not  his  own  thought  to  the 
people  in  Jerusalem,  and  tell  us  no  longer 
to  hope  for  worldly  dominion  as  the  best 
means  for  spreading  the  Law  of  the  Lord, 
but  rather  to  be  as  servants  of  God,  even 
as  Esaias  the  Prophet  hath  spoken  ?  Was 
it  that  he  wished  to  carry  out  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  prophet  even  to  every  iota  of 
his  text  ?  For,  behold,  the  prophet  say- 
eth,  "  He  let  himself  be  humbled,  and 
opened  not  his  mouth."  If  so,  then  was 
the  death  of  Jesus  but  a  sublime  suicide. 

For  surely  by  this  silence  he  has  com- 
mitted a  grievous  sin  against  us  his  people. 


EPILOGUE.  215 

For  if  we  committed  aught  of  sin  and 
crime  that  handed  him  over  to  the 
Romans  as  a  pretender  to  empire,  he 
indeed  shared  our  sin  and  crime  by  his 
silence.  Ye  Hellenes  were  at  least 
greater  in  fault  than  we  in  the  matter  of 
Socrates ;  for  ye  condemned  him  after  he 
had  spoken  his  whole  mind  and  made 
known  his  whole  thought  to  his  people ; 
whereas  we  condemned  one  who,  I  make 
bold  to  say,  was  even  greater  than  thy 
Socrates,  mainly  because  of  what  seemed 
to  us  his  sullen  and  arrogant  silence, 
broken  only  by  a  confession  of  guilt  when 
he  knew  he  was  not  guilty. 

But  yet,  let  me  not  be  as  harsh  in  judg- 
ment upon  him  after  his  death,  as  perhaps 
I  was  when  I  allowed  the  sentence  to  be 
declared  against  him  without  protest.  He, 
least  of  all  men,  could  have  died  with  a  lie 
upon  his  lips.  In  some  sort  and  in  some 
way  he  must  have  combined  the  thought 
of  the  triumphant  Messiah  and  of  the 
despised  Servant  of  God.  For  in  those 
Memorabilia  of  him  which  have  come  into 
my  hands  during  the  last  days  as  being 
a  message  from  him  that  is  dead,  I  find 


2l6  AS  OTHERS  SAW  HIM. 

these  two  things  combined.  He  speaketh 
ever  of  the  blessedness  of  the  poor  and 
the  humble  and  the  despised,  even  as 
the  Ebionim  speak.  So  that  if  a  man 
would  be  blessed,  he  would  choose  a 
lowly  career,  even  as  did  Jesus.  Yet 
withal  he  speaketh  oft  of  himself  as  the 
Son  of  Man,  and  every  Jew  that  heard 
him  would  think  he  knew  what  he  thereby 
claimed.  For  in  the  Prophets  Daniel  and 
Enoch  it  is  clearly  said  that  the  Son  of 
Man  would  come  in  victory  over  the 
world  ;  and  what  other  could  this  universal 
victor  be  than  the  Anointed  One  whom 
the  prophets  had  foretold?  If  Jesus  put 
another  meaning  upon  the  prophetic 
words,  why  spake  he  not  his  meaning 
fully  unto  the  people  ?  All  we  may  have 
gone  like  sheep  astray,  but  he  that  might 
have  been  our  shepherd  went  apart  alone 
with  God. 

O  Jesus,  why  didst  thou  not  show  thy- 
self to  thy  people  in  thy  true  character  ? 
Why  didst  thou  seem  to  care  not  for  aught 
that  we  at  Jerusalem  cared  for?  Why, 
arraigned  before  the  appointed  judges  of 
thy  people,  didst  thou  keep  silence  before 


EPILOGUE.  217 

us,  and,  by  thus  keeping  silent,  share  in 
pronouncing  judgment  upon  thyself?  We 
have  slain  thee  as  the  Hellenes  have  slain 
Socrates  their  greatest,  and  our  punish- 
ment will  be  as  theirs.  Then  will  Israel 
be  even  as  thou  wert,  despised  and  rejected 
of  men  —  a  nation  of  sorrows  among  the 
nations.  But  Israel  is  greater  than  any  of 
his  sons,  and  the  day  will  come  when  he 
will  know  thee  as  his  greatest.  And  in 
that  day  he  will  say  unto  thee,  "  My  sons 
have  slain  thee,  O  my  son,  and  thou  hast 
shared  our  guilt." 


RELIGIOUS   BOOKS 

Serviceable,   Timely,  and  Helpful. 
Riverside  Parallel  Bible. 

Containing  the  Authorized  Version  and  the  Revised  Version  in 
parallel  columns.  Large  type,  cloth,  $5.00;  Persian,  #10.00; 
morocco,  $  15.00. 

Bible  Dictionary. 

Dr.  SMITH'S  GREAT  BIBLE  DICTIONARY.  Edited  for  America 
by  Professor  HACKETT  and  Dr.  EZRA  ABBOT.  By  far  the  full- 
est and  best  Bible  Dictionary  in  the  English  language.  4  vols. 
8vo,  596  illustrations,  3697  pages,  cloth,  £20.00.  Other  bindings 
from  $25.00  to  £27.50. 

The  New  Testament. 

Superbly  illustrated  with  engravings  from  designs  after  the  Old 
Masters.  Royal  4to,  cloth,  full  gilt,  £10.00  ;  morocco,  £20.00. 

Robinson's  Palestine. 

Biblical  Researches  in  Palestine.  By  EDWARD  ROBINSON.  A 
work  very  highly  commended  by  Dean  Stanley.  With  Maps, 
plans,  etc.  3  vols.  8vo,  £10.00. 

Physical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land. 
8vo,  £3.50. 

History  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures  of  the  New  Testament. 
Probably  the  fullest  and  best  work  on  this  subject.  By  EDUARD 
W.  E.  REUSS.  Translated  by  E.  L.  HOUGHTON.  2  vols.  8vo, 

£5.00. 

NeandeSs  Church  History. 

General  History  of  the  Christian  Religion  and  Church.  Trans- 
lated by  Rev.  JOSEPH  TORREY.  With  a  very  full  index.  6  vols. 
8vo,  £20.00. 

Dr.  Schaff  pronounced  Neander  the  greatest  church  historian  of 
the  nineteenth  century. 

Into  His  Marvellous  Light. 

Studies  in  Life  and  Belief.  By  CHARLES  CUTHBERT  HALL, 
D.  D.,  of  Brooklyn.  £1.50. 

The  London  Christian  World  pronounces  these  discourses 
"  most  inspiring,"  and  the  Christian  Intelligencer  finds  "  a  rare 
keenness  of  insight,  a  reflection  of  taste  that  is  special,  a  spirit 
that  is  most  Christian  pervading  the  whole  book." 

The  Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ. 

By  the  Editors  of  the  Andover  Review.  A  series  of  noteworthy 
papers  contributed  to  that  Review,  and  forming  a  symmetrical 
and  very  interesting  treatment  of  the  great  topic  they  discuss. 
i6mo,  £1.00. 

*#*  For  sale  by  all  Booksellers.     Sent,  post-paid,  on  receipt  of  price  by  the 
Publishers, 

Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Company, 

4  Park  Street,  Boston  ;   it  East  rjth  Street,  New  York. 


RELIGIOUS   BOOKS 

Serviceable,  Timely,  and  Helpful. 

The  Evolution  of  Christianity. 

The  remarkable  Lectures  at  the  Lowell  Institute,  in  1892,  by 
Dr.  LYMAN  ABBOTT.  Thoroughly  revised,  and  forming  a  book 
which  the  Christian  Register  says,  "  for  the  breadth  of  its  sym- 
pathies, for  the  generosity  of  its  inclusions,  for  the  largeness  of  its 
spiritual  apprehensions,  can  hardly  be  too  highly  praised."  $1.25. 

The  World  to  Came. 

A  book  of  vigorous,  very  readable  discourses  by  Dr.  WILLIAM 
BURNETT  WRIGHT,  with  a  Lecture  full  of  curious  information 
about  Christmas  ($1.25)  ;  "  Ancient  Cities,"  a  volume  of  popular 
character,  describing  the  most  representative  cities  of  the  Bible 
(£1.25). 

On  the  Threshold. 

Dr.  MONGER'S  wise  and  delightful  book  for  young  men  and  women 
($1.00)  ;  "Freedom  of  Faith  "  and  "  The  Appeal  to  Life,"  two 
books  of  broad,  noble,  readable  sermons  ($1.50  each),  and  "  Lamps 
and  Paths"  a  volume  of  exceedingly  sensible  and  attractive  ser- 
mons to  children  (jj5 i.oo). 

Who  Wrote  the  Bible? 

Dr.  Gladden's  frank,  scholarly,  yet  popular  book,  treating  wisely 
and  reverently  a  very  important  question  ($1.25)  ;  a  book  of  ad- 
mirable discourses  on  "  The  Lord's  Prayer"  ($1.00),  and  "  Ap- 
plied Christianity"  treating  very  suggestively  the  moral  aspects 
of  social  questions  ($1.25). 

The  Lily  Among  Thorns. 

A  very  interesting  book  on  the  Biblical  drama  called  The  Song  of 
Songs.  By  WM.  ELLIOT  GRIFFIS,  D.  D.  #1.25. 

An  American  Missionary  in  Japan. 

A  book  of  great  interest,  and  giving  a  great  deal  of  information 
about  the  social  and  religious  development  of  Modern  Japan.  By 
Rev.  Dr.  M.  L.  GORDON,  for  twenty  years  an  able  and  devoted 
missionary  in  that  country.  #1.25. 

The  Republic  of  God. 

By  ELISHA  MULFORD,  LL.  D.  $2.00.  "  A  unique  work,  and 
devotes  to  the  great  topics  of  theology  a  kind  of  thinking  of  which 
we  have  had  little  in  English  literature  and  need  much."—  The 
Independent. 

As  It  Is  In  Heaven.      The  Unseen  Friend.      At  the 
Beautiful  Gate. 

Three  books  by  LUCY  LARCOM,  —  religious,  cheerful,  delightful 
to  read,  and  of  the  finest  quality  in  every  way.  The  last-named  is 
a  book  of  exquisite  religious  lyrics.  Each,  $1.00. 

***  For  sale  by  all  Booksellers.    Sent,  post-paid,  on  receipt  of  price  by  tlie 
Publishers, 

Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Company, 

4  Park  Street,  Boston  ;   u  East  ijth  Street,  New  York. 


4u**~  jeM^e<r.  "HI- 

j£j»V«p./'W;  LXhrlov    cY   "/£. 


!/ 


*r*clifc<l     «U. 


Tfc   ccnrrx^, 


The  well-known  Danish  publishing  house 
of  Milo's  in  Odense  will  ptiblish  in  the 
near  future  a  Danish  translation  of  "  As 
Others  Saw  Him,"  by  Mr.  Joseph  Jacobs. 
This  little  sketch  of  the  career  of  Jesus, 
seen  with  Jewish  eyes,  and  recorded  as  if 
in  the  words  of  one  of  his  trial  Judges  of 
the  priestly  Sanhedrin,  has  already  been 
translated  into  German  and  Dutch.  It 
appeared  first  in  England  in  1894,  and  has 
gone  through  several  editions  in  England 
as  well  as  here,  the  copyright  for  this 
country  belonging  to  the  Funk  &  Wag- 

nalls  Company.     "  • 

JC-  It .  7  MM** 


.  J- 


